Arcs of Destiny
by Trixi Summers
Summary: The summer before seventh-year will be a filled one. Harry has a guest to attend to. Ron and Ginny are in Canada for their summer vacations and Hermione, who is in Australia, receives some very disturbing news. But that is just the beginning.
1. am and pm

**Chapter I: **

**am and pm**

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

*

'Who can say where the road goes,

where the day flows?

Only time...'

-Enya, _Only Time_

*

_It was dark outside as newly seventeen-year-old Harry Potter looked out the window. He hadn't been able to sleep for two weeks because of the nightmares that haunted him almost every night. Each night he would wake up breathing heavily and kept himself from going back to sleep again. He never remembered the nightmares but he knew he didn't want to experience them again._

_The stars in the sky twinkled merrily. Harry had just sent a letter off to Sirius Black, his godfather, with Hedwig, his owl. He had wanted to find out where Sirius was and how he was doing. They hadn't spoken to each other in a while since the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, had sent Sirius off to find out more about a lead on how to finally kill Voldemort. Sirius had training as an Auror for the Ministry of Magic and he might be able to come up with some clues since the last thirty or forty times Harry had tried himself to kill Voldemort never worked._

_A loud crash startled Harry from his thoughts about Sirius. He jumped off the bed and crept slowly to the door of his small bedroom and opened the door a crack, peering into the hallway. The master bedroom door was closed and so was his cousin's door. He wondered if he should go downstairs to see what happened. What if he had just imagined it? Then, one of the Dursleys might wake up and he would be in trouble for walking around downstairs during the night. That would mean his aunt and uncle would lock him in his room for sure with only tomato soup for meals._

_Another crash came from downstairs. Out of curiousity, Harry dared himself to go downstairs. He slipped down the stairs quietly, willing the Dursleys to stay asleep. As he reached the foot of the stairs, he saw a light like a flashlight scanning the walls in the kitchen through the slightly open door. He gently pushed the door open and the sight startled him so much that he had to fight back the urge to scream._

_Standing in the middle of the kitchen was the one and only Voldemort. He was a thin man with very white skin, wide scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils. Voldemort turned around to face Harry and all sorts of questions arose into Harry's head, like "How did you get in here?". The Dark Lord smiled evilly and began to walk towards Harry, an odd shape in the crook of his arm. Harry stood rooted in the spot, his eyes fixed in fear at the shape and wondering what it was._

_It was a body and it looked like it was still living, although that would have to be a first considering who the person was with. It was also a girl, someone that seemed vaguely familiar to Harry. He didn't even notice Voldemort raise his wand and point it at Harry, muttering '_Avada kedavra_' under his breath._

_A flash of bright green light erupted from the tip of his wand and suddenly all Harry could hear was screaming._

***

Harry woke up then and sat up quickly, promptly falling off the bed, yelling, "Bloody hell!" He landed on his hands and knees and froze in place, listening for anything from the Dursleys' bedrooms. His ears were greeted with loud snores and Harry sighed, standing up. He ran a hand through his black hair and thought about his nightmare. He could hardly remember it but he knew it was the same dream he'd been having for weeks. He turned and looked in the mirror, surveying himself.

Harry Potter was no longer a scrawny boy who was famously known as the Boy Who Lived. Now he was a tall but slender and lean teenaged boy who was still famously known as the Boy Who Lived. He still had untidy black hair, emerald eyes, glasses, and the famous scar that he had acquired when he was just a one-year-old going up against Voldemort, the most powerful Dark wizard for a century. Voldemort had killed Harry's parents before turning his wand on Harry, but the curse set upon Harry rebounded against Voldemort, diminishing him to something that hasn't died yet, but still clung on, bidding his time. And his time was well bidden. In Harry's fourth year, Voldemort arose from near death gaining all of his former power and maybe then some. Since then, Harry, Dumbledore, and a group of other witches and wizards had been venturing in possible ways to bring down Voldemort.

Harry licked his dry lips nervously and thought it might be possible to sneak downstairs for a glass of water. He had been doing that often, ever since he had his first nightmare that summer. He never took a lot of food to eat for a snack or made a lot of noise so that the Dursleys didn't know about his nightly habits and he could keep doing them. He peered out of the room and checked again for two or three rounds of snoring. When he was satisfied that all in the house were in a deep slumber, Harry crept slowly to the stairs and down, wary of creaky floorboards. He stepped down the last step and crept down the hall to the kitchen, pushing the door open.

The kitchen was terribly silent. A light from outside shone through a kitchen window, illuminating the clock which read 1:37 am. Harry sighed. What was he going to do for the next four or five hours until the Dursleys woke up? He crossed the kitchen and opened the refridgerator. He got out the jug of water and went over to the cupboard for a glass and poured himself some water. Then he put the jug back into the fridge and exited the kitchen yawning and thinking he could exercise for awhile and then do some of the homework his teachers had given the sixth year students for the summer. In fact, he had an essay due in his least favourite class, Potions, with his least favourite teacher, Professor Snape. He didn't really want to do the essay, but he didn't want points to be taken from Gryffindor house on the first day on account of him.

He just passed the door walking to the stairs when he heard a soft pounding on the door. He froze, his hand on the stair railing and his foot on the first step. The pounding stopped and the house was filled with an eerie quiet. Then it started again and Harry walked quickly to the door and put his glass on the hall table. He opened the door and his eyes grew wide in shock.

On the porch a tall boy was standing. He had blonde hair and a pale face with streaks of dirt on his cheeks. He wore a long cloak that had been torn in several places and would've made the boy cringe if he had witnessed this in an earlier time, but he looked right at home in it now. The boy lowered his hand and cast an annoyed look at Harry, whose jaw had dropped.

"Shut your mouth, Potter," Draco Malfoy sneered. "This isn't a freak show and you'll catch flies that way."

Harry closed his mouth and looked coldly at Draco. "Why in the friggin' hell are you here, _Malfoy_?" he asked. Draco just raised one blonde eyebrow. 

*****

In another part of the world, an alarm clock read 9:37 am. Hermione Granger lay in her bed, trying to sleep more but she couldn't. Ever since she and her family had arrived in Perth, Australia, all they had did was go on tours and sight-seeing trips for most of the day. They usually only got home at 10 o'clock at night and had gone straight to bed, exhausted from all the shopping and walking they had enjoyed that day. Hermione rarely ever slept in so late in the morning, but it was the summer holidays and on account of everything they did the day before, the whole family enjoyed sneaking in a few extra hours of sleep in the morning.

Bright sunshine streamed through the window and danced on Hermione's closed eyes. Groaning, she rolled over to her other side, hoping to escape the sun, but she couldn't. Hermione muttered a few well chosen curses and sat up, stretching and yawning. She swung her legs off the bed and walked to the door. Pressing her ear against the door, she listened for any sounds coming from the kitchen. Hearing none, she shrugged her shoulders and opened the door, stepping out into the hallway. She passed a mirror and backed up to survey her appearance.

Over the years, she had acquired a very pretty appearance. Her shoulder-length brown hair was no longer bushy and Hermione could do more with it, like curling it in large and loose curls. She had pretty brown eyes with a light tan on her skin and she no longer had buckteeth. She wore a light blue tank top with small bluish-white ruffles on the edges and a pink sheep in the middle of the top and pink pyjama bottoms with white sheep that she had made in the summer before sixth year. Her aunt Hillary had visited that summer and she had taught Hermione how to make clothes. The family hadn't been able to go on a holiday since the summer before fourth year on account of a new arrival to the Granger family, so relatives had visited several times to help Elizabeth Granger with the new addition, Alexlizzanna Marianni Granger, or Alexis for short.

Alexis had been born on August 18th in the summer before fifth year. Hermione had been surprised that year when she came home and found that her mother was pregnant. Her parents didn't tell her because they hadn't known until the month before the last trimester and since Hermione would've been home in a couple of weeks, they had decided to tell her then. Alexis was born a beautiful and healthy baby, weighing in at 7 pounds and 3 ounces. Now, she was an energetic two-year-old that loved to run around the house. Hermione was always surprised at how careful Alexis was when she ran. It was like she knew that if she didn't do anything wrong like break a vase, she wouldn't get into trouble and also she would slow down when approaching corners. She had curly brown hair that ran through the family and big blue eyes.

Hermione continued down the hall to the kitchen and turned on the coffeemaker. She desperately needed coffee or she would be cranky the rest of the day from too much sleep (or so she would like to think it was, but she knew it would be from loss of sleep) and she wanted to avoid that. When the coffee was ready, she poured herself a cup and walked through the living room to the balcony, sipping her coffee which burned her tongue. She pushed open the door and lay a hand on the stone balcony rail.

It was a beautiful morning. The air was crisp and smelled like the ocean. The Swan River glinted in the sunlight in the distance and small boats were already traveling up it. An idea hit Hermione and she drank another sip of her coffee before turning back inside and heading for her bedroom. There, she changed into a pink t-shirt and grey sweat pants. Then she put her jogging shoes on and walked out the door and locked it behind her. She walked down the hotel hallway to the lobby where the elevators were and took an elevator down to the first floor. The lobby was decorated in rich, creamy colours, beautiful flowers, and Australian paintings. She jogged out of the lobby and onto the busy sidewalk, full of working people walking to where they worked and tourists out to shop.

Occasionally, Hermione needed to get out of the hotel suite and not do something that had anything to do with tourism. So, on the mornings when she was the first one up, she would take to her most familiar route jogging down the shopping district. She weaved around crowds, the wind gently rippling through her hair, probably making it tangled. At the end of the district, she took a small road to the riverfront and jogged along the beach before heading back along the same route. Once on the small road, she passed an alley where she heard a scream and a shout. She froze at the entrance and looked down the alley but saw nothing except an entrance to another alley at the dead end. Cautiously, Hermione picked her way through puddles of mud and piles of garbage, her breathing coming in ragged gasps from running. At the end of the alley, she turned the corner and gasped.

A man with red skin and two horns protruding from his skull was raising an arm with blades for fingernails on a small girl, his back to Hermione. The girl had long blonde hair and was crying, her eyes looking from the demon to something by the wall.

It was extraordinary and beautiful, but powerful. By the wall, gaseous clouds were swirling, blue gas strings forming a kind of small tornado, except the clouds weren't moving forward. They were sparkling and they emanated a beautiful white light. Hermione stared in awe, gaping. What was this?

The girl spotted Hermione and yelled, "Go! He doesn't want you... he just wants me!"

The man turned to look at Hermione, his mouth twisting into a cruel smile. "No, not if she wants to stay. I don't mind having more fun after I'm through with you," he said, turning back to the blonde girl.

The girl screamed as the man brought his razor claws down on her, hard. Hermione ran forward hoping to try to save the girl, but the man turned back to her and hit her so hard that she flew backwards and landed on her behind and hands next to the clouds. The blonde girl was screaming like a banshee as dark clouds formed around her, enveloping her. Hermione put her hands on her ears to drown out the shrieks from the girl but noticed that the sound had disappeared. The girl had also disappeared.

Something weird was happening to the clouds too. They were growing darker and swirling more fast. The man sensed this and turned and started to run toward them, but it was already too late. The clouds had started to move and they were moving towards Hermione quickly. A bolt of lightning was emitted from the clouds, striking the man hard in the chest and sending him backwards. Hermione tried to back away but the clouds had already started to circle her and she stood up. The clouds suddenly became lighter and shrank into her and Hermione gasped as energy she had never felt before began to spread through her veins, warming her from head to toe. She felt wonderful. She felt _powerful_.

The man made a mad dash towards Hermione. She watched as he got closer and then it happened. As if she knew what to do, she slammed the back of her fist against the man's face, causing him to stumble backwards and onto a pipe that stuck up from the ground, impaling him. A wreath of fire sprang up on the edges of the man's body and quickly swallowed him up, leaving behind an alley and a very startled girl who immediately left the alley.

*****

In another part of the world, all the Weasleys, minus Bill and Charlie, were eating at the Potion Restaurant in Mellowside, a small wizarding village in Southern Canada. They made a lot of money from Fred and George's joke shop (that was a big hit, especially in Canada) and the work Arthur and Percy Weasley did at the Ministry of Magic so they decided to take a trip to Canada for a holiday and to buy new school supplies for Ron and Ginny, who were still going to Hogwarts. The clock above the door read 8:37 pm.

Ginny sat between Arthur (her father) and Ron. She slowly ate her soup, listening to the conversations around her. Arthur and Molly were talking about the rest of the holidays. Percy was yelling at George for the dung beetles in his soup. Fred and Ron were animatedly talking about the Quidditch season, which left Ginny alone. She wished that either Bill or Charlie were there so that she could talk to them. She found them the most interesting, especially Charlie, who worked with dragons in Romania. They were kind to her...well, the whole family was (excluding the twins since they would play pranks on anyone, even their younger sister. She had learned that when one morning, she had woken up to a bed full of exploding frogs).

Ginny had red hair (like the whole family) and brown eyes. Tonight, she wore her hair back in a small bun with strands of hair coming out and a dark green robe. She had on the table a drawing that she would occasionally work at if the conversations got boring. It was a drawing of a particular part of Lake Borealis that she had seen and was the most beautiful place there. There was a red bridge that went over the Jade River and McCowan Rd. traveled across it. The forest surrounded the lake, the bridge, and the river and stretched down to the beginning of McCowan Rd. at Hwy. 56, and the pines were a silvery dark green. Tiny flowers grew on the beach where the river flowed out of the lake. There were pink, purple, and blue and larger flowers of white and red in the bushes on the edge of the beach by the forest. Each morning, a mist gathered on the lake and sometimes it would be a cloudy morning where the mist would have a blue hue to it and other times, the morning would dawn sunny and the mist would be orange and red. Ginny often went there whenever her family was a bit overbearing. She would leave a note and disappear down to the lake where she could draw it up close and personal and not just from memory. She used Zonko's Magical Pencil Crayons on the drawing to make it look more alive and more real so that it dawned and set with the real sun.

Ginny's thoughts shot back to earth when she realized that her family was starting to leave. She gathered up her pencil crayons and her drawing and pushed her now empty soup bowl aside. The clock above the door now read 8:56 pm.

The family left the restaurant and walked home. It was a long walk, but they all needed the exercise after that large dinner. Other witches and wizards were out that night too and Ginny often had to walk around the crowds of them standing in front of stores. The buildings were so old and reminded Ginny of Muggle London. The cobblestone streets were named after weird things like Banana Dr, which the family turned onto from Blanche St. It was a small town of about 10,000. History has it that Mellowside is the wizarding equivalent to Summerside, the Muggle town. They rest in the exact same spot except you had to know how to get into Mellowside and that is why Muggles never knew about it.

Soon the family turned right on Murray Dr, left on 69th Concession, and right on Hiacinth Dr where they went inside their house. Feeling slightly left out, Ginny left a note on the table telling her mother she was going to draw and left the house that a friend had loaned them while he and his family were on vacation. Ginny walked back down the stone steps and made her way towards the lake, drawing and pencil crayons in hand.

The night was beautiful. The last rays of the sun glowed on the lake and the tree tops. Ginny walked through the forest to the beach where she found her favourite rock and perched on it, settling her drawing on her lap.

For awhile, Ginny drew the rest of the colours of the flowers. The drawing was almost finished. All she needed now was what it looked like at night in complete darkness. She sighed and lay back against a tree trunk, waiting for night to come.

Something, or someone, stirred in the opposite beach, far beyond. Ginny bolted upright, looking across the lake to the beach. There was a flash of light and a bit of red-looking hair before it disappeared into the bush with a laugh. Ginny relaxed and lay back against the tree trunk. It was probably one of the twins trying to scare her. How they knew about the lake though, Ginny could only guess.

She closed her eyes and listened to the forest. Birds in the trees sang happily and every now and then, she could hear the wind ruffling through the tall grass behind her. Soon, she fell asleep, and the world around her watched and waited.

*****

Draco raised an eyebrow and pushed past Harry inside. Harry closed the door and Draco looked around. Pictures of a fat little boy hung on the walls. Draco turned around to face Harry and said, "Not a very nice thing to say to a guest, isn't it?"

"I beg to differ," Harry retorted. "You are not my guest nor will you ever be."

"Sorry, Potter," Draco drawled. "I do not want to be your guest as much as you do but you were the only person that was in the area."

"Wait a minute, "Harry said, lowering his voice. "How do you know where I live? And keep your voice down!"

Draco shrugged nonchalantly. "Looked it up," he replied, also lowering his voice. "It's common knowledge that you live with the Dursleys. Oh, and don't worry. Voldemort is not about to stomp in here and try to kill you. You're too well protected."

"Why are you here?" Harry asked, after a short silence.

"Potter, it's not really any of your business," Draco told him, his voice rising slightly. He paused, then continued, his voice lower. "I don't try to find out what happens in your life, why should you?"

"I'm not trying to pry," Harry answered irritably. "It's just that when you come marching into my uncle's house asking for a place to stay, it is kind of my business as to why you're here. After all, we are enemies-"

"Arch-enemies," Draco interrupted.

"-and you might have an agenda," Harry finished, ignoring Draco's comment.

"I swear I don't have an agenda," Draco said, raising his hands in mock surrender. "I'll tell you this much. I had to run away from my father. Things never go too well at home."

There was a short silence that was broken again by Harry. "How long will you be here?" he asked, somewhat reluctantly.

"Don't get your hopes up," Draco answered, starting for the stairs. "I plan to crash until school begins. The bedrooms _are_ upstairs, right? You never can tell with these small houses."

Harry sighed and grabbed his glass of water off the hall table. He led the way upstairs to his bedroom and asked, "Bed or the floor?"

"Bed," Draco answered. 

Harry sighed again and pulled a blanket and a pillow off the bed for himself. Draco smirked inwardly as he lay on the bed and shut his eyes. This would be interesting.

*

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny:**

"Any more books you need to carry and I'd say you were Superwoman," Elizabeth said, smiling.

"Let's test out your theory then," Draco challenged. 

"Harry!" Ginny cried. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in England." 


	2. Break Through

**Chapter II:**

**Break Through**

RATING: PG-13

*

'Or am I standing still 

Beneath a darkened sky 

Or am I standing still 

With the scenery flying by'

-Jewel, _Standing Still_

*

Hermione ran all the way back to the hotel. She intended to find out what happened back in the alley soon and fast. Instead of taking the elevator, she ran up the stairs as fast as she could, stopping on the fourth floor landing and gasping for breath. Sweat trickled down her forehead, but instead of brushing the beads away, she opened the landing door and ran down the hall to the suite. She threw open the door, surprised that it wasn't locked and ran in, nearly knocking over her father who was getting ready to also go for a run.

"Oh, sorry Dad!" Hermione apologized over her shoulder. "Didn't see you there!"

"Well, _that_ was obvious," Xander Granger called back, grinning. Hermione ran into her bedroom and pulled open a drawer underneath the bed where she had stored all of her books for school. She took out four books at a time and brought them into the living room. Elizabeth was sitting on the couch drinking coffee and watching Hermione, amused.

"Any more books you need to carry and I'd say you were Superwoman," Elizabeth said, smiling.

Hermione paused on her way back to her room. She wondered if that was what she was after doing what she did to the man in the alley. Deciding to test out her strength, she walked back to her room and gathered eight large books into her arms. At the looks of the books, one would think they were very heavy but they weren't, at least for Hermione. She brought all eight books into the living room with no problems (except that she didn't know where she was going since the books were blocking her view of the floor) and tipped them onto the table in front of her astonished mother.

"After what happened this morning, I wouldn't rule that possibility out," Hermione confided, scratching her head. She sat down on a chair across form her mother and explained what happened in the alley.

"What do you think happened?" Elizabeth asked, concerned.

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know," she answered. "But I promise you that I will find out, even if it is the last thing I do."

"Don't say that," Elizabeth said, shivering. She got up and walked into the kitchen to refill her cup. "It gives me the creeps. Besides, it won't be the last thing you'll ever do." 

Hermione sighed and then started sorting through the books she had brought out. "I'm hoping one of these books will give me some idea as to what-" she stopped herself from saying 'I am'. "-happened," she said finally.

Alexis came bounding in then and Elizabeth didn't have time to worry about her eldest daughter. Hermione looked down at a book she was holding and flipped open to the first page, immersing herself once again into a book she had already read many times before. 'Just in case I missed something,' she thought and ignored the pang of jealousy of Alexis in her heart.

*****

At 7 o'clock in the morning back in England, an alarm clock rang in Harry's bedroom. Harry groaned and turned over on a hard floor. Surprised, Harry bolted into a sitting position and looked around wildly, wondering if he had fallen off his bed again. Then, he caught sight of the sleeping form in his bed and memories of the night before came flooding back to him. He groaned again but this time not from waking up. He was stuck with Draco Malfoy until school started. How was he going to hide this from the Dursleys?

The alarm kept buzzing and Harry crawled to the bedside table to punch the sleep button. Draco rolled over towards the window, mumbling something unintelligible. Harry shook his head and crept to the door, opening it a crack. Vernon and Petunia's door was already open and so was Dudley's. Sounds of crackling bacon drifted up the stairs from the kitchen. Harry inhaled deeply, taking in the smell. He closed the door soundlessly and turned around. Draco was starting to sit up, yawning and stretching. He sniffed the air and licked his lips.

"Mmm," Draco said, getting out of bed. "Now that's what I call a breakfast!"

"What?" Harry asked, incredulously. "Are you out of your mind? You can't go down there! Only I can. The Dursleys will never let you stay here."

Draco shrugged nonchalantly and moved towards the door, but Harry blocked him. "Let's test out your theory then," Draco challenged.

Harry shook his head. "Why?" he asked.

"Why?!"

"Why should we? And keep your voice down!"

"Because I'm starving!" Draco answered. "I haven't eaten since yesterday morning. Now, I don't know about you, but after not eating in a long time, I'd jump at any chance of eating food. Are you with me or not?"

"Well, it would be nice if you slept in a different room," Harry commented, thoughtfully.

"There you go," Draco concluded happily, pushing past Harry to open the door. He stepped out into the hall before Harry stepped in front of him.

"What would I say?" Harry whispered, trying not to alarm the Dursleys who were all downstairs. "'Yes, this bloke right here is my arch-enemy. He's going to be staying until school starts. Oh, and pass the cheese!' C'mon! They'd throw you out before you'd say 'Hogwarts'. Not that'd be a bad idea."

"Then threaten 'em," Draco said, trying to push past Harry again, but failing. "Say that you'll turn them into toads, it always works."

"They already know that I'm not allowed to use magic during the holidays," Harry said, shaking his head.

"Well, I can't think of anything," Draco said, irritably. "I don't know what goes on in your personal life. I'd rather be eating right about now because, in case you haven't noticed, I'm starving!"

"Quiet!" Harry paused, thinking about Sirius. Then, he turned around and walked down the stairs and into the kitchen with Draco following, happily. 

When Harry walked in, all the Dursleys ignored him. But when Draco walked in, the plates in Petunia's hands fell to the floor with a loud crash.

"Who is h-he?" Petunia asked, pointing a shaky finger at Draco who smiled innocently back at her.

"WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE IN BEING HERE?" Vernon yelled at Draco, getting up from the table so quickly that his chair fell over. Draco backed away nervously, his smile disappearing, and Vernon turned to Harry. "YOU! YOU ABNORMAL-" 

"If I were you," Harry cut in camly, the hint of a smile on his lips, "I would let him stay. You know who I can summon if you don't obey. I'm sure the neighborhood would love to see Dumbledore knocking on your door wearing purple robes with _very_ long white hair. I mean, a hundred and seventy-year-old person would surely stick out."

Everybody was sticking to his words frightfully, even Draco, who looked just as surprised as Dudley that Harry was actually threatening Vernon. Those two probably thought that he would never be able to do it, even if he had before. Harry smiled inwardly, happy to prove that he did have a back-bone when it came to matters outside the Dark Lord.

"I could also write to my godfather," Harry continued, sitting down at the table for added effect. His next words were also directed at Draco as a warning. "You know he would do anything to keep me happy. However, Draco will stay in this house until school starts." As an after-thought, he added with a slightly twisted smile aimed at Draco, "He could also work for room and board if that will please you."

Draco looked outraged at this but bit back his comments towards Harry. Vernon considered this, a vein popping out on his forehead. After a moment's silence, Vernon left the kitchen to fetch a storeable chair for Draco and brought it back, putting it right next to Harry's chair. Then he said, "Deal."

Harry relaxed although he would have rather that Draco left and bothered someone else. Draco sidled around Vernon cautiously and slid into his chair and grabbed some bacon.

"Thanks," Draco whispered after a while. This statement startled Harry since he had never thought that his school enemy even knew the meaning of the word.

"You're welcome," he whispered back reluctantly and the two boys ate their meal in silence.

*****

It was 2 am when Ginny suddenly woke up. She had been sleeping peacefully on the beach when something suddenly disturbed her conscience. She looked around, trying to figure out what it was, then realized that she had been sleeping on a rock until early morning.

The moon hung above the trees and Ginny, seeing as it was probably her only chance to draw the night into her drawing, snatched up her pencil crayons and her drawing that had fallen off her lap while she was sleeping and began to draw the night scene. The frogs hummed and the moon slowly drifted across the sky, the trees casting long shadows on the ground.

When Ginny had finished, she leaned back to examine her work. Making sure that she had completely finished her drawing, she took out her wand and prodded the canvas with it, muttering, "_Tempus sketio_." When she was satisfied that the spell had worked and that the drawing would change to show what the lake looked like during a specific time, she gathered her pencil crayons into a box and put her drawing under the crook of her arm, heading for home.

The forest was dark and dense with only a little bit of light from the moon seeping through the trees. A sound like leaves crushing together came from Ginny's left and she froze, her ears pricked for anymore sounds. Hearing nothing, she kept walking, the dewy grass crunching under her feet.

She came upon a path that led to a bush. Seeing no harm, she pushed her way through the bush until she came upon a clearing, the light of the moon covering every inch of it and almost blinding her eyes. There was movement beside her and suddenly a boy stood in front of her. As soon as her eyes became accustomed to the moonlight, she gasped.

"Harry!" Ginny cried. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in England."

Harry grinned and took hold of her arm and steered her towards the river. "Drop those here," he said, grabbing the drawing and her pencil crayons out of her hands and dropping them in the clearing. "You can get them later."

"Wha-" Ginny tried to say but Harry cut her off with a finger to her mouth.

"Shhh," he whispered. "I wanna show you something down by the river that I think you're going to like."

"Uh, okay," she whispered back. Harry steered her to the right and it wasn't long until they came to the river. Its bank was muddy and slippery and its water was very deep. There was a tree growing out of the bank that leaned over the water's surface, its branches just skimming the river flowing by. The water was moving slowly from the lake and the moonlight glittered off its surface. "Well, what is it? I don't see anything special here."

She turned to Harry and was surprised by the cruel looking smile on his face. Then he leaned towards her and grabbed hold of her arms, throwing her into the river.

Ginny splashed head first into the water and she held her breath like her father taught her to. Her body sank quickly to the ground and she kicked upwards, breaking the surface and gasping for air. 

"Harry, what was that all about?" Ginny asked, startled at his violent action.

Harry was sitting on the tree growing out of the bank, smirking. He suddenly leaned down and grabbed hold of Ginny's head and pushed her under the surface. Ginny held her breath again and flailed her arms, trying to grab hold of Harry's hands, but everything happened so quickly that she found herself sinking down to the bottom.

****

The house was dark and eerily quiet when Ron woke up suddenly in the middle of the morning. He felt like someone was pulling him awake and he sat up quickly, swinging his legs off the bed. He got up and opened the door to look across the hall at his sister's bedroom. The door was still open. He crept into Ginny's room and saw that the bed was still made.

"Gin?" he called uneasily. No answer. The tugging was pulsating now. It was like Ginny was calling out to him, needing to be found. He went back into his room and grabbed a sweater and his wand. Then he ran out the door silently and followed the tugging sensations.

Finally, he had reached the clearing that Ginny had previously been in. Several times on the way, he had went in the wrong direction and had to double back when the tugging became persistent on another direction. He walked to the edge of the clearing and discovered Ginny's drawing and pencil crayons laying discarded on the ground. The drawing was beautiful. It showed a lake with the sun starting to rise. Ron looked up and found that the first few rays of the sun were starting to peak out above the tree tops.

The tugging became insistent now and Ron gathered everything into his arms. He stumbled onto a path that wound through the dense trees, occasionally tripping over rocks and fallen trees with moss growing over them. Finally, he came upon the river. There were footprints in the muddy bank and the tugging suddenly stopped. It dawned on him that Ginny could be drowning in the river. He dropped Ginny's stuff in the grass by the bank and dove into the water, keeping his eyes open.

The water was murky and spotted with mud. Little yellow fish darted away from Ron as he swam down. He spotted a crouched and shadowed figure on the sand and he picked it up, bringing it to the surface. He lay Ginny's drenched body in the grass and immediately checked her breathing. There was nothing so he started to perform CPR on her, calling up the lessons their father had taught the whole family when he found the Muggle instructions on one of his raids in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department. He checked Ginny's breathing every minute.

"C'mon Gin, breathe for me," Ron said, deeply panicked. "You gotta breathe for me."

Suddenly, Ginny's eyes popped open and she started to cough out water, her breathing coming in ragged gasps. Ron, paralyzed with relief and happiness, hugged her so tightly that she had to punch him on the arm. He let go of her and saw that she was crying.

"Thank you," she whispered. "If it weren't for you, I might be dead right now."

"Hey, at least you have something to be proud of," Ron whispered back. "You nearly died and came back to life thanks to me. Now if you could die another three times, you could beat that Buffy girl that Hermione and Harry talk about, if that makes you happy."

Ginny giggled, then sobered. "I saw Harry here," she said.

"But that can't be possible," Ron told her. "Harry's back in England."

"I know, but I saw him," Ginny protested. "He looked exactly like Harry and he had the same voice. But he was so cruel. He pushed me into the river and when I came back up for air, he pushed me back down."

"We'll phone Harry when we get back home," Ron told her. "He should be awake by now and I'm not about to believe that the person you saw was Harry. Harry is too unlike that so it must've been someone who looked just like him."

Ginny nodded and got up, somewhat unsteady. Ron steadied her and they walked back to town silently, Ginny proudly holding her drawing.

When they got back to Mellowside, Ginny and Ron made their way to the park where two gazebos stood. The town was already waking up and several witches and wizards were out for a run through the park. The pair walked up into a gazebo and kept walking towards the railing. It was much like the ticket barrier at King's Cross Station back in England. The gazebo railings separated the Muggle and wizarding towns that lay on top of each other cosmically. By going through the railing, a wizard would find himself in the Summerside gazebo. Ginny and Ron went through the railing and into the Muggle gazebo where many more Muggles were getting ready for the workday than wizards. They stepped out of the gazebo and went to the phone booth that Arthur Weasley had pointed out when they first arrived in Summerside.

"Do you have any Muggle change?" Ginny whispered to Ron. Ron shook his head and looked around. A young woman was about to pass by and Ron took his chance and stopped her.

"Excuse me, do you have any change that I could use?" Ron asked.

"Sure, how much do you need?" the woman asked, a bit suspiciously, and dug through her purse.

Ron looked back at the telephone which had the costs posted on it.

"It would be long distance," Ginny whispered. "So 25¢."

"25 cents," Ron relayed back to the woman. She nodded and produced a coin from her purse.

"Here you go," the woman said, smiling. "Hope that's enough."

"Yeah, thanks," Ron said, taking the coin. The woman walked away.

"Some nice people around here," Ginny commented when Ron put the coin in the slot like the directions said.

"I hear a 'much unlike Harry' coming on," Ron said as he dialed the Dursleys' number. "I'm telling you, Gin, it wasn't Harry."

"I know what I saw and the person looked _exactly_ like Harry," Ginny retorted. "If you don't believe me, try almost dying. If Harry does say that he wasn't here and has a logical reason for not being here, then maybe I'll believe him."

"Alright," Ron said nonchalantly. The phone kept ringing making Ron more nervous than he already was. "Harry, pick up this one," he whispered into the telephone, willing for Harry to go to the phone before one of the Dursleys picked it up.

"Hullo?" Harry said on the other end of the line.

"Harry?" Ron asked, ecstactic.

"That's me," Harry said, confused. "Ron, what are you doing calling me on a _Muggle telephone_?"

"Er, faster," Ron answered. "Anyways, Harry, have you been anywhere in Canada this morning?"

"No," Harry told him. "I've been here with a perfectly good reason. Malfoy's here."

"Oh, okay," Ron said, not really catching what Harry had just said. When it fully dawned on him, he yelled, "WHAT?" Ginny jumped beside him and gave him a curious stare.

"I know," Harry said. "He came in the middle of the night and I just let him stay out of good charity. The Dursleys have also agreed to let him stay as well."

"Why would you, of all people, let _Malfoy_ stay in your house?" Ron asked.

"I don't really know why," Harry replied, defensively. "It just sorta happened."

"For how long will he be there?" Ron asked, thinking Harry was crazy.

"Until the summer ends," Harry answered. "Look, Ron, I have to go. The Durlseys will kill me if they find me on the phone. Bye."

"Bye," Ron said weakly. He looked at Ginny who looked almost outraged.

"Did I hear what you just said correctly?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, guess who is staying with Harry until the summer ends?" Ron asked her.

"_Malfoy_ is staying with Harry?!" Ginny nearly shouted.

"That's what I said!" Ron said, a shadow of a grin on his face. It soon disappeared with his next words. "It's crazy, isn't it? Harry is too brave and noble for his own good. I would've thrown Malfoy back out onto the street, that bastard belongs there and-"

"Well?" Ginny interrupted.

"It wasn't Harry, Gin," Ron told her. "Malfoy is his alibi, so it must've been someone else that you saw. We should owl Hermione and ask her."

"Call her, like you did with Harry," Ginny suggested.

"I don't have her phone number," Ron said, exiting the phone booth. "Plus, I don't have any change."

"Yes, you do have her phone number. I saw it!"

"I did, but I lost it," Ron told her impatiently. "C'mon!"

The pair made their way back to the gazebo where they went through the railing with Ron muttering, "I still can't believe that bastard is with Harry."

*****

It was 3 pm in Austrailia when the Grangers returned from another tour. Hermione hadn't found out what happened in the alley yet and it was tugging on her conscience insistently. She had read through all the books she had brought out from her bedroom before Xander suggested that they go eat lunch and go on a tour.

"Anyone want ice cream?" Xander asked as Hermione sat on the couch and gathered up her books.

She shook her head. "I gotta do my homework," she said. Really, she was going to look through her books once more but her father didn't know what happened in the alley that morning.

"I do! I do!" Alexis shouted and Xander picked her up.

"Alrighty then," Xander said, smiling at Alexis. "Liz?"

"No, I'm fine," Elizabeth answered. Xander and Alexis walked down the hall and Hermione heard the door close behind them. Elizabeth walked into the living room from the kitchen. "Homework?"

"Well, Dad doesn't know yet," Hermione replied. She leaned back in frustration. "I've looked in these books a hundred times and I've found nothing that will help me."

"Maybe the answers aren't in these books," Elizabeth told her, sitting down on a chair.

"I'm not exactly going to go down to Hogwarts just for a bunch of books," Hermione said. "Besides, I've probably read them all in the library anyway."

"We don't have to go to Hogwarts," Elizabeth said calmly, despite her daughter's current mood. "Surely, there must be a website you could look at to find any information. I mean, what happened this morning seems like it belongs outside the reach of the Wizarding World."

"That's true!" Hermione said happily. "Mom, you're a genius!"

"I don't know about genius," Elizabeth said, a smile forming on her lips. "Albert Einstein, maybe."

Hermione laughed and ran over to her father's laptop. Turning it on, she waited anxiously for the laptop to load before going onto the Internet and onto a search engine. She typed in Dark magic and a list of websites popped up. She searched each website on the list but came up with nothing. Xander and Alexis came home while Hermione was searching and it wasn't until late that Hermione finally got off the computer. The family had already had dinner and were about to watch television when Hermione dejectedly plumped down on the couch. Alexis, who was sitting on the floor, yawned and sat on the couch next to Hermione, laying her head on Hermione's arm. Hermione smiled and put her arm around her sister.

"Nothing?" Elizabeth asked, sitting on the rocking chair with a cup of coffee.

"Nada," Hermione complained. Then, she told her father and sister what had happened.

"Blue clouds?" Alexis asked, her eyes wide in interest.

"Blue _and _white clouds," Hermione told her. "And then they got dark and went into me." She sighed.

"Maybe we should watch some comfort TV shows," Elizabeth suggested. "Buffy? Charmed? Gilmore Girls?"

A light bulb went on in Hermione's head and she exclaimed, "Buffy!"

"Buffy it is," Xander said, standing up but Hermione stopped him and explained.

"No," she said, "Buffy the _Vampire Slayer_! Her powers are identical to mine. Which means I could have slayer powers!"

"But how could you get a slayer's powers?" Xander asked.

Hermione thought about that before finally answering. "The demon man, or whoever he was, probably did a spell that brought out the powers, out of the girl who was probably a slayer herself. He had to kill the girl to get the powers but I was closest to them so they went into to me instead. It all makes sense."

"I don't want to know what kind of spell he did," Elziabeth commented.

"He didn't actually _kill_ the girl, did he?" Alexis asked, her eyes fearful.

"Uh...no," Hermione said, trying to think of a way to say that the girl did die but not hurt Alexis' feelings. "He did another spell on the girl which put her safely in a far away dimension, probably called Turgon."

Alexis smiled and Xander announced that it was time for Alexis to go to bed. After she had been tucked in, the rest of the family sat in the living room to watch a rerun of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

*

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny:**

"Where have you been?" a stern voice called from the kitchen. 

"How did you get here?" Harry asked as they walked into the market.

Her parents had already went to bed which meant that Hermione would be able to search the Internet again for information about the spell the demon guy performed. 


	3. Of Muggles & Nightmares

**Chapter III:**

**Of Muggles & Nightmares**

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: I still do not own Harry Potter and still do not know J.K. Rowling. And the quote 'I can see your wisdom teeth' is from Charmed. And the song the little girl sings is in the tune of what the little girl in Buffy the Vampire Slayer's dream in _Hush_.

*

'So why are you running away? 

Why are you running away? '

~ Hoobastank, _Running Away_

*

"I still can't believe Harry would let that bastard live with him," Ron said, his fists clenching as he and Ginny walked up the stone pathway to their house. "I still don't believe the _Dursleys_ would let that slimeball live with them."

"You haven't stopped talking about Malfoy since we left the phone booth," Ginny cried exasperatedly. Then she added with a smile, "Why is that? Are you in love with him?"

Ron froze on the pathway and turned to Ginny with the most horrified expression she had ever seen on him. She laughed while he said, "I'm gonna puke."

"Oh, leave him alone, Ron," Ginny said, starting to walk up the steps to the front door. "He probably has a perfectly good reason for picking Harry to live with. Besides, even you would let him stay." She reached the door now and pushed it open, looking back at Ron.

"You know I wouldn't!" Ron shouted, an even more horrified expression on his face. He started up the steps. "You're pulling my leg."

Ginny turned around and walked inside and called over her shoulder, "The expression on your face is priceless!" She giggled as Ron turned his nose up at her and closed the door.

"Where have you been?" a stern voice called from the kitchen.

Ginny and Ron turned a corner and found that the whole family was awake and sitting around the table. Ginny put her drawing and pencil crayons on a chair and realized that her clothes were still a little bit wet and muddy. She looked at Ron who caught her eye and shrugged.

"I went swimming after I finished my drawing," she lied to her mother. "A-and Ron went to call Harry because it was the best time he could think of and calling Harry is faster."

"Why did you feel the need to call Harry at such a time in the morning?" Molly asked Ron, a frown twitching at her lips.

"For no reason, actually," Ron said, almost whimpering. "I-I just thought I saw him here."

"Really?" Molly asked, skeptically. Both Ginny and Ron nodded incredulously, and to make matters worse, they both smiled innocently. "You're both lying. I can see your wisdom teeth. Tell it in full, you two, and don't leave anything out."

Ginny sighed and, along with Ron, explained everything that had happened.

"And gues who is staying with Harry?" Ginny asked her family. "Ron would only talk about it, oh, a hundred times."

"Who?" Arthur asked, his brows crinkling.

"You will never believe it, Dad," Ron said. "Draco Malfoy."

"Malfoy?!" the whole audience said as one.

"I know, eh?" Ron asked, shaking his head. "I feel so sorry for Harry."

After that, Ginny changed into drier clothes and hung her drawing up on the wall in her room. Then she sat on her bed which had gold coverlets and leafed through _Witch Weekly_. She had picked this bedroom because it was decked in a variety of golden hues, a colour she loved. Plus, it had the largest walk-in closet in the house and beyond the closet was her own private bathroom which was decorated in soft pinks. She sighed and leaned back against the many pillows on the bed. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Ginny said, loud enough for the person on the other side of the door.

Molly opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind her. She wore a tired but concerned expression on her face. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked Ginny.

Ginny nodded slowly. "I'm okay, Mom," she told her mother. "But thanks for asking."

Molly smiled. "If you need anything, you know where to find me."

Ginny smiled as her mother left the room and the peace and quiet fell on the room again. She lay her head back against the pillows and closed her eyes, sleepiness falling on her again.

*****

After lunch when all the chores were done, Harry and Draco escaped the house to go to the nearest market for food for Aunt Petunia. The pair walked down in silence. They hadn't spoken to each other since breakfast and Harry had millions of questions he wanted to ask Draco. Finally, he broke the silence, not standing the curiousity any longer.

"How did you get here?" Harry asked as they walked into the market.

"Caught a cab," Draco said shortly, looking around the store.

"A Muggle cab?" Harry asked, astonished that Draco would do such a thing.

"No, you idiot," Draco replied, walking towards some fruit for Dudley's diet with Harry following him. "You stick out your wand hand, you get the Knight bus. You stick out your non-wand hand, you get the Knight taxi. You stick out any foot and you trip someone."

Harry nodded as he grabbed some grapefruit and kiwis and stuck them into separate clear bags. Draco grabbed some apples and oranges and put them in bags, then wandered over to the vegetables. He grabbed carrots, a head of lettuce, and some radishes while Harry took a loaf of whole wheat bread off the bread rack. He joined Draco at the fish counter and Draco pointed to the lobsters. 

"How are we going to get those?" Draco asked.

"Excuse me?" Harry called to a short, round man with a white apron on. The man turned to look at him. "We would like five lobsters cooked, please." Draco looked incredulously at Harry.

"It will take 20 minutes," the man said. Harry nodded and left the counter with Draco following. Harry stopped at the first aisle he came to and Draco nearly ran into him. He pulled out the shopping list Petunia had given him.

"Are we all going to eat a large lobster each?" Draco asked as Harry walked down the aisle and grabbed a box of crackers.

"Actually, we'll be sharing a whole lobster with Petunia," Harry told him. "But if it comes down to it, then, yeah."

"I can't eat all that," Draco muttered. "Crazy Muggles. Don't they know that I don't eat as much as they do in a day when I'm on my regular diet schedule?"

He started to swear and Harry rolled his eyes, although he was impressed with the originality. Sweeping down another aisle and grabbing cans of soup, he cut in on Draco's swearing session to say, "We're lucky to be eating this much at all, so count your lucky stars, not your lucky swear words."

"Funny, Potter," Draco said sarcastically, leaning on a shelf while Harry grabbed a salt box. "Ha ha."

Harry snorted and turned down another aisle. Draco followed him and looked over Harry's shoulder at the grocery list. He then started to look for some of the groceries and plucked them off the shelf when he found them, putting them into the cart Harry had grabbed when they had passed the carts.

Harry raised his eyebrows and said, "Think we're being graded?"

Draco snorted. "Why do you say that?"

"Because you're helping me get the groceries," Harry answered. "I would've thought you would have made me do it and-"

"Sitting back and just watching you do all the bloody work is bloody boring," Draco cut in, suddenly angry. He chucked a bag of pasta into the cart causing the bag to break open and all the pasta to spill out. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed, bending down.

Harry looked around to see if anyone noticed. Satisfied that no one did, he bent down and started picking up all the pasta off the floor and stuffing it in the bag. When all the pasta was off the floor and out of the cart, Harry placed the bag behind all the other pasta bags and took a new one.

"Gosh, I didn't know Harry Potter had the guts to hide a broken bag," Draco drawled, his usual self showing through.

Harry raised an eyebrow and checked the list again. "There is nothing left to look for," he announced. "We might as well pay for this stuff and then go and get the lobsters and pay for them."

"Okay then, Chief Muggle," Draco sneered. Harry ignored him and they went to the cashier to pay. Soon they were laden down with grocery bags. They went to get the lobsters and paid for them, getting them a lot cheaper than Uncle Vernon had thought. Harry looked at the prices and saw that the store was having a 'Four 4 One' sale on the lobsters.

The pair left the store and Harry steered them onto a different route which was longer so they wouldn't have to deal with the Dursleys so quickly. They walked along in silence and didn't stop until Draco froze, looking at a small store between two supermarkets. A sign above the door read "The Witches' Brew".

"Ha! I gotta see this," Draco said, a smirk twisting the corner's of his lips. He walked into the store and Harry followed him nervously.

Inside the store, it was musty and dark with only small stuff hanging on the walls. Shelves upon shelves of books and magic supplies were cramped into the small shop. Draco and Harry put their bags on the floor by two particular big shelves and started to look around. There were posions and unidentifiable potions, plus potion ingredients like essence of squid and toad eyes. Books of all sizes, colours, and quality lined the shelves, their covers collecting dust, with titles like the Book of Shadows and 1001 Ways To Cure Forgetfulness.

One book stood out to Harry. It was between all the others and was a dull blue with gold trimmings. There was no title on the cover and the edges of the covers were peeling and cracking. Draco joined him out of curiousity when he saw Harry in a kind of trance over the book and picked it up off the shelf. He opened the cover and blew away the dust, revealing the title of "Arcs of the Unknown". Soon, he was in a trance over it and was flipping the pages slowly and carefully. Dark green cursive writing flowed over the pages outlining spells, enchantments, and ancient rituals.

"That's Dark magic, Draco," Harry chided, looking around the shop to make sure no one was watching. "It's coming off in waves. I can feel it."

Draco ignored him and continued to look at the pages. "Let's buy it," Draco said, suddenly excited. "Using the Dursleys money."

"Are you kidding?" Harry asked incredulously. "The Dursleys'll be pissed."

Draco ignored Harry for the second time. He turned to a man standing a ways from them who had long grey hair, tattoos visible on his neck, and a motorcycle jacket. "Hey, hi," Draco said to him. "Look after our shopping bags or there'll be hell to pay. Big time. If you even touch those bags, you'll have to answer to the Dark Lord and trust me, he doesn't like Muggles."

"Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed, scaring both the guy and Draco. "Don't scare the poor guy."

Draco smirked and he and Harry went to the cashier to pay for the book. Harry gave Draco the Dursleys' money so that Draco could pay for it and Harry walked back to the grocery bags where the man was standing patiently.

"I'm not touching it," the man said, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"That's good, that's good," Harry said, gathering up some bags. "You can go now."

"Thank you," the man said. "Oh, and tell your friend, Draco Malfoy, that the Lord Voldemort hasn't touched me in years and can't for more to come."

Harry was dumbstruck. How the hell did this guy know about Draco and Voldemort? Soon, Draco was back and was gathering up his half of the bags and the man had already left.

"Let's go to that cafe across the street to look at this book," Draco suggested as they emerged from the shop and he started to cross the street, but Harry hung back.

"The groceries will go bad if we don't get them home," Harry said. "And then we can come back here and look at the book. But first we need to come up with a plan. How are we going to explain to the Dursleys about the missing money? I could say that you went on a rampage and bought the book or, that you bought the book. Which excuse shall we use?"

"Tattletale," Draco muttered under his breath but Harry caught it.

"I heard that!" Harry said, grinning. They continued on their way to the Dursleys quietly thinking about any excuses for the missing money that could be useful.

"How about we rip up the receipt?" Harry suggested, earning a raised eyebrow from Draco. "Just say that the lobsters were really expensive and the man didn't give us a receipt."

"That could work," Draco agreed as they turned a corner onto Privet Drive. They stopped at a garbage can. "Since, we're already here, we don't have much of a choice, now do we?"

Harry shook his head and took out the receipt for the lobsters and ripped it up, putting it in the garbage can next to them.

"Ready?" Draco asked.

"Ready," Harry said and they kept walking down the street to Number 4.

*****

_She was running, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Her hair flew behind her, tangling in the wind. She was running from something. Something very evil was hunting her._

_The hallways were endless, vast and dark. Scraps of furniture stood against the walls, collecting dust. Cobwebs were spun all over the walls and the paint was peeling. There were doors everywhere, shut tight and locked. The only ones open were those with stairs or more hallways behind them. She did not dare to go through those doors. She kept to the hallway she was on which twisted out of sight._

_There was a sudden roar and a bright flame rose up in front of her. She dodged the flame, nearly colliding into an old desk. She kept running as fast as she could, knowing the flame was following her._

_Something was moving up ahead, but through the dark she couldn't see what it was. It moved closer to her and she slowed down, forgetting the flame was still behind her, but it didn't matter. The flame had slowed down too._

_Suddenly, the person down the hall was wreathed in flame and she recognized the guy as the one from the alley. Then the person changed. His whole appearance morphed into something else, something quite out of the ordinary...and then she screamed._

***

Hermione bolted upright in her bed, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. She felt like she had been running a marathon. She swung her legs off the bed and walked out into the hallway and into the bathroom. Looking into the bathroom mirror, she surveyed herself.

"I look like hell," she whispered. She sighed and walked back into her bedroom. She felt a sudden tingle on her left cheek and she moved to brush it away with the back of her hand. When she brought her hand back down, she discovered that there was a bright red substance on it.

She gasped and ran to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. There was quite a long cut on her cheek and blood was starting to trickle out of it. She turned on the faucet and washed out the cut and washed her hands. Then she hurried into the living room and turned on her father's laptop.

The clock on the computer desktop read 10:52 pm. Her parents had already went to bed which meant that Hermione would be able to search the Internet again for information about the spell the demon guy performed. She searched message boards, chat lines, websites, and even guestbooks when she finally found the answer.

On a message board called Dark-Net, she found a whole topic devoted to Dark rituals. One of the regulars had posted a thread about a Dark book called the Arcs of the Unknown. It had tons of spells and information in it including a spell to transfer powers which sounded like what the demon guy did. The only problem was that using the book was extremely dangerous, which diminished Hermione's hopes of finding the book and using the counter spell. Little did she know that Draco and Harry had just bought the book.

*****

The Dursleys had accepted the excuse that Draco and Harry had given them about the missing money. They even gave Harry more Muggle money so he and Draco could go to that cafe Draco saw to read the Arcs of the Unknown. As a matter of fact, Harry and Draco were on their way to the cafe right now.

"Well, that was easy," Harry commented as the boys turned onto the street the cafe was on.

"A little too easy," Draco said. "I like a challenge."

"Duly noted," Harry said. The pair didn't speak until the got to the cafe, Java. Harry ordered an ice cappucino and Draco did the same. When they got their drinks, they took them to the diner downstairs. They settled at a booth behind two girls in a line of booths in front of the cashier with a fence on the booth on the cashier's side. Draco took out the book and opened it carefully, laying it down on the table in front of him. He flipped through the pages reading the titles of each spell.

"'How to Keep Your Lover From Cheating'," Draco read aloud to Harry. "'To Taime a Chucabra.' 'Ten Love Potions.' I guess they aren't illegal."

"This is Dark magic, Draco," Harry said impatiently. "I would expect you of all people to know that."

Draco ignored him and kept reading. "'Astral Projection.' 'To Taime a Cow'? Are they serious?"

"Probably," Harry answered. Draco ignored him again and kept reading.

'Draught of the Undead.' 'Dormina Aquois De Modi.' 'Ten Poisonous Vines and What They Do.' 'The Realm of the Living Dead.' 'An Introduction to Pi'?"

"Skip that one," Harry said, sipping his iced cappucino. "It's not exactly magic."

Draco nodded. He was about to keep reading out more titles when he was interrupted by a man at the bar holding a small stick with a handle in his hand up to the bartender's throat.

"Everybody, don't move!" the man shouted. He turned to the bartender. "Or this girl is going to get shot along with a couple of other people."

"Draco, down," Harry whispered out of the corner of his mouth. Harry ducked under the table as quick as lightning. Draco looked at the man at the bar. He was getting the bartender to open the cashier and hand him the money. Seeing his chance, Draco grabbed the book and slid underneath the table, joining Harry.

Underneath the table was a small space which meant that Draco and Harry would be squished together. Draco kneeled down with the book in his lap, his shoulder crushed up against Harry's and their thighs touching. It became hot and beads of sweat began to form, trickling down Draco's forehead. He ignored this and concentrated on what was happening at the bar.

There was a loud noise like short and abrupt thunder and a scream. Suddenly, a girl was crying and Draco tried to twist around to see what was happening through one of the small holes in the fencing but his face nearly collided with Harry's. Harry shifted so that he wasn't kneeling anymore and bumped into Draco, sitting on his thigh.

"Oww," Draco whispered, giving Harry a deathly look. "Don't ever stand on my leg again."

Harry stretched his legs out, ignoring Draco. There was another loud noise like thunder and a few screams. The man was shouting something at someone, but whatever it was, Draco couldn't hear it.

"I wish I had a cellphone," Harry whispered dejectedly.

"Why?" Draco asked, interested. "What is a cellphone?"

"A cellphone is like a phone that we Muggles use to talk to someone over a long distance in real time," Harry replied, "except it doesn't have a cord. It would be great to use now so that we could call the police."

There was a scraping sound like a chair or table being pushed along the floor. Draco shifted so that he was sitting like Harry as well and leaned his head against the fencing, closing his eyes. It was weird that a boy from a family that hated Muggles should be caught in a Muggle robbery. It was also weird that he should be sitting so closely to the Boy Who Lived, or more commonly known as his mortal enemy. Thousands of witches (and even some wizards) would kill to be in his shoes.

There were several screams and Draco's eyes flew open. He looked at Harry who shrugged his shoulders. Unable to contain his curiousity any longer, he put the book on the seat and turned over onto his knees and looked out of one of the small holes in the fencing. There were a couple people lying on the floor with puddles of blood pooling around them. A new guy was holding that robber's ("What is that weapon called?" Draco asked. Harry said, "A-") gun and the robber was now holding a knife, ready to attack the guy. The guy with the gun was about to pull the trigger when the robber dashed forward and stabbed him with the knife, grabbing the gun with his other hand. Draco winced as the new guy slid to the floor by the counter and he looked away. 

"I don't want any more of you challenging me again," the robber yelled. "You got it?"

There was a chorus of 'yes's. Draco looked at the book on the seat and was struck with the idea of using the book. He leaned forward and started to flip through the pages, eager to get out of this situation.

"What are you doing?" Harry whispered, leaning forward to look over Draco's shoulder.

"There might be a spell in here that can help us," Draco answered. He flipped through the pages frantically.

"You can't do a spell here," Harry told him. "Once the Muggles see magic, you'll be on the six o'clock news and get a mix of good and bad publicity. Next thing you know, you're doing talk shows and book signings and being taken by the government and disected."

"Look, do you wanna stop this guy or not?" Draco whispered back to Harry, irritated.

Harry sighed. "There must be a spell in there that the Muggles wouldn't be able to see. Something that we can say and is not noticeable."

Draco flipped the page and came upon a telekinesis spell. "'Envokes telekinesis from the inner being of the caster, enabling him to move things with his mind.' Should we try that?"

Harry crawled to the entrance of the booth and looked around. "There are other people hiding under their booths so they might've been able to call the police. There is a guy by the door, but only close enough so that he can shoot anyone who dares to try and escape. If we open the door from here, the police might have a better chance of getting in. If you want to, try the spell."

Draco nodded and turned back to the page he was on. He took a deep breath and read aloud the spell. "Bring me what I myself cannot find, the key to an escape from my bind."

It felt like centuries to Draco as he waited for Harry to say that the door was opening. He felt a sudden warmth inside of him and he concentrated on the door opening, willing it to open, then was startled out of his reverie when Harry cried out.

"The door is opening," Harry said, grinning, as he crawled back under the booth. "You freaked the guy by the door."

Another century passed as Draco and Harry waited with baited breath for any sign of police officers. "FREEZE!" someone shouted. Draco looked out of the fencing and saw that people in black uniforms were pouring into the diner with long guns. After a bit of a struggle, the two robbers were finally arrested and the injured were taken care of.

"It worked," Draco said excitedly and slid back onto his seat next to the book. Harry got back onto his seat and took a sip from his iced cappucino.

"We probably have to give statements to the police," Harry commented.suddenly he became frantic. "Put the book away!"

"Why?" Draco asked.

"Just put the damn book away," Harry whispered hoarsely to Draco. Not a minute later did one of the policemen come over to their table with a small notepad in his hand. He asked the two boys questions about the hold-up and they answered as truthfully as they could, leaving out the part about the spell that gave Draco the power to open the door. Then he left and the boys were free to leave the restaurant; Draco picking the book up from his lap where he had hidden it.

"Did you think that the policeman was going to steal the book for a love spell?" Draco asked as they walked out of the cafe into the bright sunshine.

"Just in case," Harry answered. He sighed and Draco looked sideways at him. Harry's cheeks were flushed and he was biting his lower lip, staring at the ground. Even though he couldn't see Harry's eyes, he knew confusion lay behind them.

*****

_She walked calmly down a hall, the sunlight slanting through the windows, patterns dancing on the floor. The hallway was blindingly bright. She paused as the sunlight bounced off the floor and directly hit her eyes. She covered her eyes and kept moving forward._

_The hallway stretched on for as long as she could see. The windows were made of stained glass and drawings of crosses and people adorned them. Halfway down the hall from where she was standing in was bright. The hallway she needed to walk into was dark as night._

_She felt drawn to the darkness like a moth to a flame. She needed to get into that part of the hallway. It called to her, drawing her near. Suddenly, she could press her hand to the glass and she looked into the darkness._

_Footsteps rang through the hallway behind her and she turned around expecting to see Harry, but instead she saw Draco. His blonde hair shone brightly in the sunlight and his cheeks were rosy. His chest was bare and he wore blue jeans that hugged his hips tightly. She sucked in her breath as he drew level to her and put a hand on his chest which was amazingly hot._

_"You cannot go in there," she whispered to him, her brown eyes raking his lean and muscular body._

_A slight smirk tugged on his lips as he leaned down and placed his lips on top of hers. His tongue slid along her top lip and she opened her mouth, allowing his tongue access. Soon they were kissing fiercely when a crack was heard. She drew back and surveyed the glass separating the light and the dark hallways. A crack shaped like a lightning bolt was quickly forming in the glass. Suddenly the glass shattered and fell to pieces on the floor._

_"Are you sure about that?" Draco whispered into her ear, his lips softly brushing her skin. He straightened and took her hand and they walked into the darkness. Soon the darkness swept over the sunlight in the other half of the hallway, engulfing it and bringing them into complete shadow._

_She looked back, stunned, at the suddenly dark hallway and shivered, not sure that she wanted to be there anymore. Noticing her shiver, Draco pulled a soft white turtleneck sweater out of thin air and fitted it over her head. It glittered in the darkness and Draco smiled sadly._

_Suddenly a voice cut through the darkness. It was a young girl's and she was singing. Moonlight spilled through the arched windows, illuminating the girl who was a short distance away and had long blonde hair and scratches on her face and arms. She held a large book in her hands._

_"Can't even talk,_/ _Can't even cry./ No they aren't the Gentlemen,/ But something is coming by._

_Gotta lock your doors, /Gotta hide your keys./ They're restless and rowdy,/ And they don't say please._

_No they aren't happy,/ No they aren't fake. /You're gonna need this book,/ Or they'll leave you in a wake._

_Time is passing by,/ Time might even stop./ It's the end of the world /And you might be on top._

_Concentrate hard, /Play the game fair./ If you get this one right,/ They won't even dare._

_My time has ended,/So might yours./ Time is counting down/ And she's already on her course."_

_Suddenly the girl disappeared in a halo of lights. Ginny looked at Draco and screamed._

***

Ginny gasped and sat up in her bed, her breathing coming fast. She went over the dream in her mind again and it was surprisingly clear. The only thing she didn't remember is why she had screamed when she looked at Draco. She supposed it was a message. Something bad was about to happen to the world, but why did she get the dream?

There was nothing special about Virginia Weasley. In her first year at Hogwarts, she had found Tom Riddle's diary and he had made her do things that she wouldn't have otherwise done, like kill the school chickens, but that was mainly the only adventure she had taken. The rest of the years after that were pretty normal for her. She had made a couple of friends and she still had a crush on Harry Potter. She got good grades and loved to read, write, and draw. She had taken an interest in the science of Muggles like her father and took Muggle Studies, occasionally giving Hermione the viewpoints and main ideas when she was interested. She was just an ordinary witch in Hogwarts.

So why did she get this dream? Deciding she should tell someone she could trust would be able to find out anything she needed (which left Ron out), she jumped up and fished some paper out of her drawer and started to write all that she could remember of the dream, including the song. An owl the size of a tennis ball flew through her window and landed next to Ginny on the night stand. She finished writing and fluffled the owl's feathers while he hooted happily.

"You're just in time, Pig," Ginny told the owl. "It so happens that I need this letter to be delivered to Hermione." She tied the letter to the owl's leg and watched as he happily soared through the window, glad to deliver a letter.

*

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny:**

"PACK!" Dudley yelled even louder.

Minutes passed by as Hermione wandered aimlessly through the graveyard.

"What?" Ginny asked incredulously. "Draco Malfoy and Harry are coming over here?" 


	4. On the Brink of Adventure

**Chapter IV:**

**On the Brink of Adventure**

RATING: PG-13

A/N: Okay, I know that Harry and Draco may seem a little out of character in the chapters before and the chapters after, but this was my first novel-length fanfic and I wrote it a long time ago without much thought to reasons as to why they act the way the do. But, I hope you enjoy it anyway.

*

'It seems I found the road to nowhere 

And I'm trying to escape 

I yelled back when I heard thunder 

But I'm down to one last breath.'

-Creed, _One Last Breath_

*

Harry and Draco got home safe and sound. The Dursleys ignored them as they came in so Draco went up to the spare bedroom he was staying in and put the book away while Harry went into the kitchen to help Aunt Petunia prepare for dinner. He moved as fast as he could, eager to get out of that stifling kitchen. As he chopped up some vegetables, the heat of the kitchen reminded him about being so close to Draco underneath the table during the hold-up. Harry ignored this memory and kept chopping, nearly slicing off one of his fingers in the process.

Dinner came and passed without event. Harry found that he wasn't really hungry and excused himself from the quiet table early, noticing that Draco was looking at him curiously. He brought his plate into the kitchen and pushed it into the sink without even rinsing it clean. Then he went through the kitchen door and down the hall to the stairs. He went up them and crossed the hallway into his bedroom, partially closing the door behind him. He flopped on the bed and closed his eyes, listening to the clatter of forks and knives coming from downstairs. Suddenly, the phone started ringing and footsteps pounded on the stairs. They paused at the landing and then walked into the spare bedroom. The footsteps probably belonged to Draco and he probably paused to consider whether to talk to Harry or not, but the door to the spare bedroom snapped closed.

Harry sighed and sat up and looked out the window. It was beginning to darken and the sun was starting to slip below the horizon. Dogs barked in the distance and the street was quiet, the occasional car driving by. A silent world, partially open to the reality of the real world, the Muggle world. He longed to belong to that world and yet he did not wish to. All this business with Draco and constantly worrying if Voldemort was going to attack him was starting to slowly drive him crazy. He was actually startign to wonder what was going to happen next.

"Hey, Harry," a voice called from the doorway. Harry turned to see Draco looking at him curiously, the book in his hands again. "You've gotta see this spell."

"What is it?" Harry asked, feigning interest. Draco sat on the bed next to him and pointed at the bottom of the page he had turned to.

"It's a body-switching spell," Draco told him. "It's faster than a Polyjuice Potion and it lasts longer. They even have varieties of it, like power-switching."

"Let me see that," Harry said, suddenly actually interested. The page was written in blue ink and there were drawings of people morphing into someone else. The spell was short and simple and didn't require any potion with hairs from the person to be morphed into to be drunk. He turned the page and found a spell for soul-switching where the soul left the body. On the opposite page of that was the power-switching spell.

The phone rang again downstairs and Harry looked out into the hallway from the now open doorway to see what was going on. He saw Dudley run up the stairs and turn the stereo in his bedroom on full-blast. "Yellow" by Coldplay blared on the speakers and Harry shook his head. He suddenly remembered Draco was still there and turned his head to see what Draco's reaction to Muggle music was. Draco's mouth was open and his eyebrows were raised making him look like a fish. Harry snickered and flipped the page. On the next two pages were a truth spell and a forgetfulness spell. The truth spell might be useful on Draco. Harry would love to find out why Draco was really there.

There were thundering footsteps on the stairs again and Harry looked up to see Uncle Vernon pounding up the stairs, a small vein throbbing on his temple like he was angry but looking happy just the same. He thundered into Dudley's room and the floor shook with the added weight.

"What's that music?" Draco yelled.

"That's Coldplay," Harry answered. "It's pretty good music, especially for Muggles, don't you think?" he added with a smirk.

Draco shook his head and got. Uncle Vernon thundered into the master bedroom as Aunt Petunia ran up the stairs. Dudley bounded into Harry's room nearly colliding with Draco who was standing by the door and making the pictures on the walls in the hallway fall down with a crash.

"Pack!" Dudley yelled.

"What?" Harry asked before he could stop himself.

"PACK!" Dudley yelled even louder.

Draco smirked at Harry and asked, "Why?"

"We're flying to Toronto tonight," Dudley answered in a normal tone. He couldn't even hear himself so he ran back into his room and lowered the volume of the stereo. He then ran back into his room making the floor shake again. "We're flying to Canada tonight. Dad has an unexpected meeting with a guy. I don't remember his name, but he asked to meet Dad early in the morning so we're catching a flight to tonight. Dad didn't want to bring you two along but he has no choice. Mrs. Figg is on holiday in the North and Aunt Marge wouldn't have a place to put you." He left the room then and excitedly ran back into his room and turned the stereo louder again. Now, it was playing "One Last Breath" by Creed.

"Flight?" Draco asked above the music.

"Them Muggles fly in airplanes high in the air to get to far away destinations," Harry replied, shutting the book and giving it back to Draco. "Like the guy said, pack everything you brought. With any luck, Dumbledore could owl us and tell us to stay with Ron at that wizarding town, Mellowside." Draco looked as if he was about to protest but Harry pushed him into the hallway and began to gather his things. He packed his school trunk and sure enough, Uncle Vernon was yelling at the top of his lungs about an owl.

"WHAT IS THIS BLOODY OWL DOING IN HERE?" Uncle Vernon roared, running out of the master bedroom and into Harry's, everyone in the house and the owl in tow. The owl landed on Harry's bed and at once Harry recognized him as a school owl. The owl hooted once and Harry untied the letter on his leg. The envelope was addressed to the Dursleys, Harry, and Draco. Harry took out the letter and unfolded it, reading it for himself before handing it to Uncle Vernon.

The letter read:

'_Dear Dursley family, Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy,_

_It has come to my attention that the family shall be leaving for Canada tonight on a business trip. Due to the problems in my world, Mr. Potter is under strict protection for his own safety. Due to the fact that he will be travelling abroad, this protection will be of no use to him._

_However, one of Mr. Potter's friends is vacationing in Canada close to where you shall be arriving. I ask that Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy be excused from the family to live with the Weasleys in Mellowside. I have already contacted them and a ride for them to Mellowside shall be waiting for the two boys at the airport when your airplane arrives. This solution is for their own safety only since Mr. Malfoy also needs protection._

_There is no need to reply to this letter since everything has been taken care of._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Headmaster of Hogwarts._'

Uncle Vernon took the letter and read it. His face brightened at the fact that he woudn't be seeing Harry and Draco again, and then reddened at the mention of Hogwarts. He looked up at Harry and Draco and grunted, handing the letter back to Harry. He then stomped out of the room with Aunt Petunia and Dudley following suit. The school owl, noticing that his job was done, promptly stretched its wings with a loud hoot to Harry who opened the window. The owl hopped onto the windowsill and took off.

Harry turned back to Draco who had folded his arms across his chest. "What?" Harry asked.

"Do _not _tell me that we are going to live with your Weasel friend for the rest of the summer," Draco said.

"You have no choice, Malfoy," Harry told him, getting back to packing his clothes.

"I'd rather live with the bloody Dursleys than those Weasleys," Draco retorted, disgust dripping in his voice. "We'd probably be sleeping on moth-eaten couches instead of beds."

"If you want to have a roof over your head, then stop talking about my friends that way," Harry hissed.

"Why should I?" Draco asked. "He's just going to act the same way towards me that I act towards him."

"So? If Ron acted the way you do to him towards you, then maybe you would get a taste of your own medicine. Maybe you'll think twice about mocking someone's financial status in the future."

A silence fell upon the pair with Dudley's music still blaring in the background. Surprised, Harry looked at Draco who was looking at him with hatred and betrayal in his eyes. Draco crossed the room and stormed out the door, muttering, "Fuck off" in the process.

Harry slumped down onto his bed, baffled. "Now, what the hell just happened?"

*****

It was past two o'clock in the morning when Hermione finally got off the Internet. After she had discovered the Arcs of the Unknown, she had searched the Internet for information on what she was. She was able to narrow down her list to her first conclusion: a slayer. After testing out her abilities by doing a cartwheel, which she could never do before, and lifting a 30lb weight easily in one hand, she was a perfect candidate for a vampire slayer. 

Yawning, Hermione sipped the last drop of her sixth coffee and shut down the computer. She turned off the living room light and slowly made her way into her bedroom and onto her bed. She closed her eyes and wrapped her blankets tightly around her.

Trying to sleep was not as easy as it sounds. Hermione rolled over onto her other side and yawned. Uncomfortable, she shifted into a fetus position and then finally rolled over. Burning questions etched themselves onto the lids of her eyelids. Hermione rolled over again, trying to escape those questions. She wondered what was going to happen next and what she was going to do with these new found powers.

Hermione leaned on one elbow and punched her pillow, then settled back down, hoping that she would fall asleep. When she wasn't successful, she rolled over and sat up. She got out of bed and changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater. She slipped out into the hallway and grabbed a pair of keys, then quietly opened the door and walked into the hotel hallway, locking the door.

She had no logical reason for doing this except that she wanted to get a feel os staking vampires. She felt that her sudden urge to walk in a cemetery and battle the undead would help solve at least some her questions.

She made her way to the closest cemetery that she remembered passing on one of the city tours. As she neared it, she could see that there was a lock on the gates. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Hermione grabbed hold of the lock and yanked hard on it. The lock came loose and Hermione slid it out of the hook. She pushed one of the gates open slowly, wary of creaking. After she slipped into the cemetery, she closed the gate and surveyed the land that she had just trespassed on. 

The cemetery was very large. Acres and acres of tombstones in rows marched into the distance. Mausoleums and patches of trees dotted the landscape. Hermione trudged forward, her ears ready to pick up any sound.

Minutes passed by as Hermione wandered aimlessly through the graveyard. Several times she wondered why she was in there and was ready to go home when her ears would pick up a sound and later she would find out that it was nothing. Sometimes she even saw a shadow, but nothing really happened until five minutes later when she passed by a large mausoleum and found herself with three vampries around her.

*****

Ginny was sitting on her bedroom floor looking through all her drawings when she heard the front door bang open and footsteps rush excitedly in. Curious, she got off the floor and went into the hallway where she saw her father standing by the table in the kitchen, hunched over and gasping for air.

"Well, Arthur, what is it?" Molly Weasley asked, standing up from the couch and coming over to help her husband into a chair.

"Harry...Malfoy's son...coming over...today," Arthur told her and Ginny, who was now leaning on a chair.

"What?" Ginny asked incredulously. "Draco Malfoy and Harry are coming over here?"

Arthur nodded, his breathing becoming regular. "Harry's uncle, Vernon Dursley, was called for a meeting in Toronto in the morning. Dumbledore wanted me to take the two boys for the rest of the summer."

"I enjoy young Harry coming over," Molly said, "but really, do we have to have Draco Malfoy too?"

Arthur nodded again. "It seems that Draco ran away from his father for reasons unknown to me and sought Harry out for help. Naturally, Harry agreed."

"You know how Harry is," Ginny agreed. "He'd save Malfoy's life if it came down to it."

"Should I go out to the store and get more food?" Molly asked. "We're probably going to need more vegetables."

"Yes, you should probably go do that," Arthur agreed. "In the meantime, I'm going to to find the boys and pass on the information and the rules, so that when Harry and Draco arrive, Ron and the twins don't freak out and start beating up on Draco."

"Okay dear," Molly said. Both parents prepared to leave and said goodbye to Ginny. They closed the door behind them, leaving Ginny to straighten up the house.

She flew about, putting dirty dishes in a wizarding dishwasher and straightening the cushions on the couch. She wanted the house to look perfect, even if Malfoy was also going to see it with Harry. Ginny had to admit that she had a crush on Harry Potter. He was part of the reason she was cleaning up, even if she did have some reservations about him ever since his evil twin tried to drown her. Although, that was his evil twin, not Harry himself. The other part of the reason was that she wanted Malfoy to see that the Weasleys were respectable people. She couldn't stand Malfoy's taunts about her family being poor and it would serve him right if he got a taste of being poor.

Ginny stood back to marvel her handiwork and sighed. She could feel it in her bones that this was going to be one adventure that they'd never forget. 

*

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny:**

She had expected to fight one vampire, but not three at the same time. 

Sirius raised his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay." 

"I don't have to," Harry answered, spotting a tall red-haired man coming towards them in the darkness. "Look."


	5. Eureka!

**Chapter V:**

**Eureka!**

RATING: same as before

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, CSI, Harry Potter, or Bell ExpressVu. And I do not know JK Rowling.

A/N: For those who have not heard of Bell ExpressVu or live in Canada or the U.S(?), Bell ExpressVu is a sattelite service for us Canadians.

*

'I feel so alive for the very first time 

I can't deny you 

I feel so alive 

I feel so alive for the very first time 

And I think I can fly'

-P.O.D. _Alive_

*

As soon as everyone in the house was ready, the entire group left for London airport in the new company van that the Dursleys had gotten. Dudley's friend, Piers Polkiss, was coming along to Canada and he and Dudley sat in the backseat of the van looking at dirty magazines while Draco and Harry sat in the middle of the van uncomfortably. Draco had been avoiding Harry's eyes ever since after dinner. He could feel Harry's questions wanting to come out, so he ignored whatever Harry said. He just didn't want to revisit what happened back at Malfoy Manor.

Soon, the van pulled into the airport parking lot after being searched for what the Muggles called bombs. Everybody in the van got out and unloaded the luggage and put them on carts. They wheeled their carts into the airport where they went through various security check-outs. Finally, they arrived at their gate where they each gave the clerk their tickets.

After Draco gave the woman his ticket, he entered a corridor until they were inside the airplane. A stewardess ushered the group to their seats and took their jackets. Petunia and Vernon took two seats together while Dudley and Piers took another two seats leaving Draco to fend with Harry. Harry took the window seat and after a few moments, Draco announced, "I want the window seat."

"But-" Harry started.

"_I _want the window seat," Draco stated again.

Harry sighed and got up from the seat. Draco slid into the window seat and ignored Harry for the rest of the flight by looking out the window. As the plane took off, he began to realize that he was starting to find airplanes fascinating. He found it hard to imagine Muggles engineering such a thing as an airplane. He felt like he was on his broomstick playing Quidditch, flying above the clouds and looking down at the Quidditch field far below. Only now, Draco was looking at miles and miles of water that stretched into the distance. The sun was sinking below the horizon in the west, sending its last rays onto the glittering water.

Draco sighed and lay his head back onto the headrest. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

*****

One vampire came out of the shadows from the mausoleum, one vampire came out from a bush, and one vampire came out from behind a tall tombstone. The vampires surrounded Hermione who immediately panicked. She had expected to fight one vampire, but not three at the same time.

"Uh-oh," Hermione whispered. "Too many."

Hermione backed away from the two in front of her and looked around for a possible escape route. Without noticing it, she backed into something solid and felt strong hands push her face-down into the ground. The cold grass chilled her skin and as she got onto her hands and knees, she felt a hand grab the back of her neck and pull her upwards until her feet were no longer touching the ground. 

"You're nothing but a toy," the vampire growled into her ear. She felt the vampire throw her into a tombstone where she hit her head. Pain seared from the cut and blurred her vision. Then, she felt two pairs of hands grab her arms and pull her upwards. Her vision cleared and she found that two of the vampires were holding her while the third stood in front of her. She could see the bumpy ridges of the brow and the jagged, sharp teeth of the vampire in front of her.

The vampire in front of her slid his finger along the cut on Hermione's head. Blood stained his finger and he licked it off, smiling. "And you taste like supper," the vampire growled. He grinned even more as he hit her jaw with the back of his hand. Fresh blood sprang up on the ripped flesh of Hermione's lip. Hermione looked at him, seething, and decided it was time to live or die.

"I'm sorry, but I don't feel like staying for supper," she said, feeling ever more like Buffy now.

Using the two vampires who were holding her as leverage, Hermione did a backflip which kicked the vampire in front of her in the jaw and got her out of the grip of the other vampires. Running to a tree, Hermione broke off a branch and used it to stake the vampire that had started to follow her. He turned into dust as the second vampire ran up to her and kicked the branch out of her hand. He punched her in the stomach and kicked her down onto the ground.

Hermione turned over onto her back and saw that the vampire was standing over her. He kneeled down and held her hands as he prepared to bite her neck. Her heart racing, Hermione head-butted him and pushed him off of her. The last vampire came up then and kicked her in the ribs. She rolled over and grabbed the branch that had been knocked out of her hands and hurriedly got up.

"Now, you don't want to deal with me," Hermione told the two vampires. They looked at each other and laughed. Hermione narrowed her eyes and aimed. She threw the branch right into the mean vampire, staking him.

After the mean vampire turned to dust, it was just Hermione and the not-so-mean vampire. Hermione wasted no time and kicked the vampire in the chest. He stumbled backwards and she rushed forward to deliver a round of punches and kicks. Using the branch once again, she staked him and congratulated herself on a job well done. She took the branch with her as she walked back to the gates to leave the cemetery, then looked back as she opened a gate and went through, closing it behind her.

Her watch read 3:40 am when Hermione finally arrived at the hotel suite. She kicked off her shoes silently and yawned. As soon as she walked into her room and closed the door, she found a cute, little owl tapping at her window. She rushed over to open the window to let Pig in and the little owl hooted and flew in with a piece of paper attached to its leg. He flew onto the bed and hooted again.

"Shh, Pig," Hemione scolded as she untied the letter and stroked Pig's feathers. "We all know that you can be as loud as a pack of wolves at night." She sighed and read the letter. It was from Ginny, explaining about the dream she recently had. Hermione fished a pen out of the drawers under her bed and quickly wrote a response on a fresh piece of paper. She tied it to Pig's leg and shooed him out of the window.

Once Pig was gone, Hermione changed into her pyjamas and got into bed, finally going to sleep.

*****

Sirius Black sauntered up to the bar and sat on a stool. He greeted the bartender and looked around the crowd for anyone he might know.

"What would you like?" the bartender asked him as he turned around to face the bar.

"Scotch on the rocks," Sirius told him. As he waited for his drink, he looked up and down the bar for any sign of someone he knew, again. The bartender, Lou, plopped a drink right in front of Sirius' nose. "Thanks."

"Say, pal, who are you looking for?" Lou asked, wiping the counter.

"No one in particular," Sirius told him, trying to give him as little information as possible.

"Oh?" someone behind Sirius asked. The voice belonged to a female and someone he had known, but who it was, he couldn't tell. He turned to see a tall figure with a hood over her head, shielding her face. The woman sat on a bar stool next to Sirius. "No one in particular?"

"Not that I know of," Sirius answered, trying to peer behind the woman's hood. "Do I know you?"

"You might," the woman replied. "I have to keep this disguise since I am on the run from my husband, and stop peering around my hood!"

Sirius raised his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay." He turned back to his drink and took a gulp of it. A few minutes passed before the woman spoke again.

"I think I know why you're here," she announced.

"You do?" Sirius asked, doubtful.

"Yes, I do," the woman answered. "You're here to get information on that new big bad that's in town. Or, in the Wizarding World."

"New big bad?" Sirius asked.

"Not You-Know-Who, but a new evil. One who would like to conquer the Wizarding World and make it his own. He'll change it to a branch of the Underworld, where demons can walk freely."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, I'm sure of it. I've heard the rumors, the whispers of a nameless evil in our world. Voldemort looks like a little puppy dog compared to this new guy. His minions have already been sent out to destroy the fighters of good in preparation for the take-over. I have already spotted my own evil twin as well as my son's."

The woman sighed and continued. "Spread the word to Dumbledore. We are no longer fighting against Voldemort, Sirius. I just hope that my son is safe out in the Muggle world with your godson." She lay her hand on top of Sirius', who was shocked and worried at the same time. "Harry will be safe, Sirius."

"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself that _your_ son will be safe," Sirius commented. He thought he figured out who he was talking to. "Why is Draco with Harry anyways? Don't they hate each other?"

"Yes they do,' Narcissa Malfoy answered, "but I thought that Harry would be good for Draco and teach Draco to see the silver lining in every situation. My husband, he, h-he..."

"You don't have to talk about it," Sirius told her, squeasing her hand.

"You know that the boys are going to Canada, don't you?" Narcissa asked.

Sirius shook his head. "There are a lot of things I don't know."

Narcissa shrugged. "I should be on my way. I have already spent too much time here. It was nice to see you again, Sirius."

"Yeah, you too," Sirius said as Narcissa left the bar. As soon as she disappeared through the door, Sirius paid the bartender for the drink and left the bar as well.

*****

Harry nudged Draco in the ribs just as the airplane was about to land. Some time had passed since take-off and Harry had busied himself with reading a couple of magazines. Draco had fallen asleep and was resting peacefully in the seat next to him. Now, he woke up with a start and noticed the flashing seatbelt sign in the front of the plane.

Harry put his magazines back into his bag and put his seatbelt on. He looked at Draco who was busy looking out the window at the land still far below. Harry sighed and looked up at the front. The plane dipped and then leveled. It stopped a few seconds later and all the passengers started to get up.

In the airport, the group claimed their bags (which took Harry awhile since his baggage was later on) and the Dursleys and Piers separated from Harry and Draco. The two boys went outside where a single black car was waiting in a long line of yellow taxis. The driver was leaning against his car reading a newspaper and whistling. He had sandy blonde hair and was thin, tall and young. The driver saw them and introduced himself to them as Sean.

"You two _are_ going to Mellowside, right?" Sean asked. Harry nodded as he and Sean put his trunk into the trunk of the car. "Well, that's great! I have the right passengers."

Sean ushered the boys into the car where they sat side by side, expressionless and silent. Sean tried to lighten the mood by telling a few jokes, but only got a few smiles from Harry and the same distanced expression from Draco. The rest of the ride was spent in silence.

Almost an hour and a half later, the car arrived in Summerside. Sean explained to the boys that they had to walk through the gazebo to get into Mellowside, the Wizarding town.

Harry dragged his trunk into the gazebo and with the help of Sean, carried it through the magical barrier. A noise like a vacuum erupted in Harry's ears and he felt his body move forward and drop. His feet hit the pavement suddenly and Harry lurched forward, nearly dropping the trunk on his feet. Sean steadied him and together they put the trunk on a bench in the gazebo. Soon, Draco had joined them.

"Well, I'll be leaving you two here," Sean said. "It was nice to meet you guys."

"Yeah, thanks Sean," Harry said and Sean grinned. With one last wave, Sean was pulled back through the barrier into Summerside.

Harry looked around. Mellowside didn't look any different from Summerside except for what everybody was wearing. Witches and wizards were milling around in cloaks and robes of a variety of different colours. There were no cars in Mellowside, just broomsticks and carriages. Three-storey buildings lined the cobblestone streets, their brick dating from centuries before. Trees besides the streets and in the park were decorated in tiny flame-less lights that hung in the branches.

"Let's go," Harry said, grabbing his trunk and dragging it out of the gazebo.

"How do you know where we are going?" Draco asked, the first time he had spoken to Harry since after dinner.

"I don't have to," Harry answered, spotting a tall red-haired man coming towards them in the darkness. "Look."

Draco faced the direction Harry was pointing. Soon, Arthur Weasley had joined the pair.

"Oh, hello you two," Arthur panted. "I ran all the way from the office when I found out that you had gotten here. Here, let me help you with your trunk, Harry."

With a charm that Arthur put on the trunk to make it fly next to them, the threesome trudged across the park and across the street. They turned right on Hyacinth Drive and soon, they were walking up a short driveway to a long, blue-coloured house.

"Boys, welcome to Paradise Manor," Arthur said excitedly. "Molly probably locked the side door so we'll have to use the front. Come on."

Arthur led them up a walkway that snaked around a corner to a pair of steps leading to the door. When Arthur approached the steps, a small light switched on, illuminating the walkway. Soon, small lights along the path were on, their light cutting piercingly through the darkness. Arthur opened the door and ushered the boys in.

It was a comfy home with creamy tones spreading throughout the house. Arthur lowered the trunk onto the floor and brought the boys into the open kitchen/living room/dining room. Ginny and Ron were sitting on the couch along with Molly Weasley watching-

"Television?" Harry asked Arthur. "But isn't this a Wizarding town?"

"Ah, but it's a Wizarding town in the same place as a Muggle town," Arthur began, his grin stetching from ear to ear, "which means we get _free_ Bell ExpressVu." When Draco arched an eyebrow questioningly, Arthur explained. "It's a satellite." Draco nodded in approval.

"What are you guys watching?" Harry asked, trying to lighten all the tension in the room.

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," Ron answered. "Very interesting show."

"Maybe you should all be going to bed," Molly said. "It's getting pretty late and Harry and Draco may have jetlag. I think that's what it's called. I've heard Hermione mention it before."

"I slept on the plane," Draco told her, "so, I'm fine." Off Harry's look, he added, "But I guess I can go to bed if you want me to."

"Oh, dear, it's your choice," Molly said. "Have you watched TV before?"

"At the Dursleys," Draco replied. A silence fell on the group then and slowly became uncomfortable. Arthur sighed and Harry kept his eyes on the television screen.

"Well, I'm going to turn in," Arthur finally said, the silence shattering into pieces and falling on the floor.

"Yes, I think I will too," Molly agreed. She got up from the couch to follow her husband up the stairs when she turned back. "Now, I trust that you will find a good sleeping arrangement?" The group nodded. "Okay then. Goodnight everybody."

After a chorus of goodnights, Molly disappeared up the stairs and Harry sat down on the loveseat.

"So," Ron began. he thought for a minute, and then brightened. "I almost forgot. Dad's friend left us a couple of sleeping bags that you guys can use."

"Great," Harry said. "Where should we sleep?"

"Anywhere," Ron answered. "I'll go fish those sleeping bags out. They should be here somewhere."

Ron went downstairs and Harry decided to follow him. The creamy tones of upstairs gave way to dark browns. Another television set and set of couches were down in the basement and a pool table was stationed right next to them. The floor was carpeted in a coffee brown and was soft to the touch. Ron went into a room where the laundry was kept, along with shelves of storage.

"Are you sure you're okay with Malfoy being here?" Harry asked as he leaned against the door frame while Ron searched through boxes for the sleeping bags.

"I've got no choice," Ron replied, obviously furious with the idea but not showing it. "Dad says Dumbledore wants him here because of some issues with Malfoy's father. Dad doesn't quite know why he's here, though."

"Yeah, neither do I," Harry told him. "Malfoy hasn't said a word about it to me since he arrived on my doorstep."

"Don't you find that odd?" Ron asked incredulously, pausing in his search.

"Sure I do," Harry answered, "but it's not my life to mess around in."

Ron looked thoughtful. "I guess so." He went back into searching and a moment later, he yelled, "Eureka!"

Harry started and raised his eyebrows. "You yell 'eureka' when you find something now?"

Ron blushed. "Yes," he muttered.

****

When Harry followed Ron downstairs, Ginny was still sitting quietly on the couch watching TV. The tension was replaced again in the room as Draco stood by the wall, not speaking. Ginny had never known Draco to not speak like this before and it put her on edge. She thought up ways to ease the tension in the room but came up with nothing. She decided an offer would be better.

"Draco, would you like to sleep in my room?" Ginny asked. Finding this question a little odd, she continued. "I mean you could sleep on the floor, or if you want you can take my bed and _I_ can sleep on the floor."

"Uh, you don't have to take the floor," Draco said. "But thanks. I would like to sleep in your room."

Ginny smiled and jumped off the couch. "Okay, but wait here. My room kinda got a little messy."

Draco smiled too and Ginny skipped into her bedroom. She loathed and despised Draco, so why was she allowing him to sleep in her room? Looking around the room, she chalked up her offer to being nice to Draco, for her parents. Or was it something else?

Piles of magazines were strewn along the floor and dirty clothes were hanging off of the chair at the desk. Ginny picked up the magazines and pushed them into a drawer of the desk. Then, she took her clothes into the walk-in closet and dumped them into a hamper where she heard them fall to the laundry room below. She turned and walked farther into the closet where the door to her bathroom was and peeked in. The bathroom was decorated in soft pinks and a mint green carpet sat on the floor next to the shower. Nothing was out of place in there but Ginny was sure that Draco would hate the colours. She closed the door and walked back into her bedroom where she found a tiny bird fluttering about, hooting loudly.

"Pig!" she exclaimed. Then, in a reprimanding voice, she said, "Calm down, Pig!"

"I have never seen anything that looked less like a pig," a voice said from the doorway. Ginny jumped and whipped around to see Draco leaning against the doorframe.

"I thought I told you to wait in the living room," Ginny scolded sarcastically.

Draco shrugged. "Got bored watching CSI. Besides, I heard Ron yell 'Eureka!' and thought I should get out of there."

Ginny snorted. "Well, that's Ron for ya," she said. She jumped onto her bed where Pig flew down into her lap. Ginny untied the letter on Pig's foot and read it over.

'_Dear Ginny,_

_You're right, your dream is kind of vague. Maybe something will happen in the future where it will be a dark time for you. Something bad could happen and that is what the dark half of the hallway is all about, but what I don't understand is why you _needed_ to walk into the dark. Was the hallway calling out to you? The bright hallway is also confusing to me. you described it as blinding, so is something in your life hard to handle? Also, do you remember what patterns were on the glass windows?_

_As for Draco, you hate Draco, so why would you kiss him? And you said his body was hot, heat-wise. I'm not sure about that part, but I'll work on it. In the meantime, be wary of Draco if you happen to see him. Though, I think that Draco will be the one to get you out of the dark period in your life because he gave you a white sweater._

_As for the whole hallway being engulfed in shadow, maybe something will happen to the whole world. All I can think of is an apocalypse, but if you have any ideas, let me know._

_The little girl could be a prophetess. You said she sings a song. She held a book in her hands and said that you were going to need it. Did you see the title of the book? It reminds me of an episode of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ where the Gentlemen take all the voices away so that they can collect seven hearts. If the girl said 'Can't even talk' then you might not be able to speak soon. Buy a chalkboard if that happens. The song also talks about 'something coming by' and 'they'. I'll have to check on the Internet in the morning for any prophecies that seem like this. I found a great web site for it last night._

_Hermione_

_P.S. Calling me is better. Ron has my phone number and please call when I'm awake._'

Ginny sighed and folded up the letter. She looked at Draco who was still by the door staring off into space. Ginny was surprised by the amout of emotion showing on his face. Usually, he was indifferent to everything around him and never showed any emotion except for smirking and laughing cruelly. He snapped out of his reverie when he notcied Ginny watching him. They kept staring at each other, almost frozen in the moment, too afraid to talk. Ginny was afraid of removing her eyes from his, but-

"Ginny!" Ron called from the living room.

"Coming!" Ginny yelled back. She dropped the letter on her bed and ran out of the room.

***

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny:** "You don't mind if I borrow a pillow?" Draco asked. He looked at all the pillows on Ginny's bed.

"I had bruises earlier but they disappeared. I'm going to be fine." -Hermione

"Do it," the flame whispered to the shadows. Out of the shadows came ten demons in human form.


	6. No Talking

**Chapter VI:**

**No Talking**

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: The idea of not talking is from the Buffy episode of _Hush_ when everyone's voices are taken away, except there are no Gentlemen in this plotline. I do not own this idea or Buffy or Harry Potter, and I do not know JK Rowling.

A/N: All the italics when they are speaking is what they are trying to speak.

*

'Making my way downtown Walking fast 

Faces passed And I'm home bound 

Staring blankly ahead Just making my way 

Making my way Through the crowd ' 

-Vanessa Carlton, _A Thousand Miles_

*

While Ginny was gone, Draco sat on her bed to think. Ever since he and Harry had gotten here, the whole Weasley family had been a bit overly nice to him as if they thought he was too delicate to handle their criticisms. Then, Ginny had offered her room to Draco and it felt like everything changed. Draco knew that she had done it for her family's sake and that she didn't really like him. All that was evident when he looked into her eyes when she stared at him after reading her letter. He had seen the confusion that lay behind, the hatred that was scattered, and the nice-girl image that lay on top. He knew her family was below his, so why did he feel like he was happy that she had offered her room? Why did it feel like something had clicked in his heart? At least it was better than sleeping in Ron's room. Draco shivered in disgust.

Ginny bounded into the room with a sleeping bag in her hands. She threw it at Draco who muttered, "Ow!" when he didn't catch it. It fell to a pile on the floor in front of him. Draco abandoned all thoughts and picked up the sleeping bag.

"Oh, sorry about that!" Ginny said. She ran into the walk-in closet and Draco could hear the scraping of hangers. He laid his sleeping bag carefully on the floor. All he needed was a pillow.

"You don't mind if I borrow a pillow?" Draco asked. He looked at all the pillows on Ginny's bed. Some were red, some were gold, some were small, some were large, and some were fluffy. "Fluffy pillows?" Draco whispered out loud.

"Take any you want," Ginny answered, "_except_ the fluffy ones."

Draco raised an eyebrow and grabbed a large, gold one. Ginny appeared then, changed into a pair of pink pyjamas. Draco looked into the closet where she had come from and asked, "What's beyond there?" There was a door open on the other side of the closet.

"That's the bathroom," Ginny told him. She jumped onto the bed and under the covers. "It's pink though. You may not like the colour."

"Pink is fine," Draco said. He got into the sleeping bag and put the pillow underneath his head. "Just as long as it's not in my clothes."

"You're not going to change into a pair of pyjamas?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"Don't have any," Draco replied simply. Ginny gasped.

"No pyjamas?" Ginny nearly shrieked. She jumped out of bed. "I'll see that you get a pair from Ron, or Harry."

"No, Ginny," Draco said, astonished. "I'm really fine."

"You're sleeping with your everyday clothes on," Ginny said impatiently. "I don't classify that as fine." She ran out into the hallway.

"No, Gin-" Draco started, but got out of the sleeping bag and ran into the hallway just in time to stop Ginny from knocking on Ron's door. Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her back into her bedroom, closing the door behind him. "I'm fine, Ginny."

Ginny scowled and got back into her bed. Draco shook his head and got back into his sleeping bag. It wasn't long until he heard the soft, rythymic breathing of sleep from Ginny. He closed his eyes, but sleep never seemed to come that quickly to him.

He lay awake for half of the night listening to Ginny's breathing. She seemed so peaceful, he would hate to disturb her. Loud snores were coming from across the hall which were probably Ron's since Harry didn't snore that loudly. Draco wondered if Harry was sleeping at all.

Footsteps were softly creaking across the hallway. The door to Ginny's bedroom opened a crack and Draco pretended to be asleep as a beam of light fell into the room, illuminating Draco. Harry must be awake. The door closed, leaving the room dark again. Draco opened his eyes and sat up. He listened to the footsteps go back across the hall and close the door. Why would Harry need to look into Ginny's room?

A noise from the bed disturbed Draco's thoughts. He turned to see Ginny roll over, whimpering in her sleep. Her arms started to flail and Draco knew she was having a nightmare. He got out of his sleeping bag and cautiously approached the bed. Ginny rolled over and jumped in her sleep. Draco sat on the bed and put a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "Wake up," he whispered. Ginny rolled over again and he withdrew his hand quickly as she tried to hit him. Her head whipped around and Draco could see pain and fear cross her face. Suddenly, she bolted upright, awake and breathing heavily, beads of sweat trickling down her face. Though, they weren't the only beads trickling down he face.

Draco realized that she was crying. Tears were falling down her cheeks and, unsure of what to do, Draco sat beside her and pulled her to him. She rested her head against his shoulder and Draco awkwardly lay backwards, trying to get comfortable."Shhh," Draco whispered, trying to comfort her. "It's okay. The nightmare is gone." She didn't stop crying. "Do you want to talk about it? It helps if you do and I'm a great listener, even if I'm not a great guy."

Ginny smiled and clung to him tighter. It was an experience Draco never had before. Comforting somebody who held you back. Ginny calmed down a bit and started her tale. "Last night, I had fallen asleep by the lake. I go there often to draw, but I didn't mean to fall asleep. When I woke up, I decided to go home, but then I met a guy along the way out of the forest who looked just exactly like Harry. He brought me to a river that flows into the lake and pushed me in. Then, he held me underneath ...the water. The only...the only reason I'm still...alive is because...Ron rescued me. I thought I would be fine about it, but I guess I was wrong."

Draco had experienced almost drowning once at the hands of someone else, but he didn't feel like sharing that experience with her. Instead, he said, "I can relate," and held her closer.

"Really?" Ginny asked. "What was it like afterwards?"

"I had nightmares too," Draco said, staring off into the distance. "But I never had anyone to talk about it with. If you have anymore nightmares, you can talk to me."

Ginny smiled and relaxed into his body. Soon, both had drifted off to sleep.

*****

When Hermione had woken up the next morning, the first thing she did was look at the time on her alarm clock. It was 7:50 am. Hermione groaned, wondering why she always had to get up early. She pulled back the covers and got out of bed, wincing at the aches in her muscles. She limped over to the mirror and looked at her image. The cut on her cheek from her dream was still there, but it was healing pretty quickly. A new cut with dried blood around it shone on her forehead where she had hit the tombstone. The cut on her lip was swelling and the flesh around it had turned purplish. Another bruise was forming on the top-most of her forehead and she reminded herself to never head-butt again. Her family was going to freak if they saw her like this.

Hermione opened her door and poked her head outside to see if anyone was in the washroom. The bathroom was open, so she scurried inside and closed the door just before her mother came out of the kitchen. She splashed water on her face and washed off the dried blood. Then, she took some concealer and tried to hide the bruises, but she didn't have to. They were starting to fade away while only cuts remained.

"Oh, thank God," Hermione said. Cuts she could live with, but bruises would look like she had been beaten up (which was technically true) and she didn't want to scare her family, especially her little sister. She put the concealer away and looked at her hair which was getting out of control. She pulled it into two pigtail braids and walked out of the washroom and down the hall. In the living room, she found her mother and father sitting on the couch, watching the morning news. Hermione limped into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. After making one, she downed a couple of gulps and went back into the living room and sat down on the rocking chair beside the couch. Both of her parents greeted her, looking at her quickly before turning back to the news. As soon as they realized what they had seen, they turned back to Hermione who grinned mischieviously and waved.

"Hi!" Hermione said.

Elizabeth rushed over to her daughter. "Hermione, what happened?" She pulled Hermione off of the rocking chair and brought her over to the couch.

"I had a dream last night," Hermione told her parents. "I went onto the Internet and found out that the spell the demon guy performed is in a dangerous book-"

"The book bit you?" Elizabeth interrupted, confused.

"No, the book is very rare, so I can't get it," Hermione corrected. "Anyway, I also found on the Internet that my powers _are_ slayer powers. I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't so I decided to test out my powers to see if they were actually real. So I went to a cemetery to fight a vampire. I ended up fighting three...at the same time."

"Hermione," Elizabeth chided.

"You shouldn't have done that," Xander scolded. "That was very dangerous. You could have been killed."

"Look, I'm okay," Hermione told them impatiently. "I had bruises earlier but they disappeared. I'm going to be fine."

"You don't know that," Elizabeth said, worriedly as Hermione got up to go into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. "You don't have the proper slayer training." She followed her daughter into the kitchen.

"In time, I'm sure I will," Hermione assured her, getting out a box of cereal and a bowl. "I could go train at the gym downstairs. I'm sure they won't mind."

Elizabeth sighed. "Well, alright, but take your father with you. He's very good at martial arts."

"Why, thank you," Xander said from the couch. Elizabeth grinned.

"Fine," Hermione said. Her mother left the ktichen while Hermione poured her cereal. After breakfast, she and Xander changed into their jogging clothes and went down to the gym. They got a private section to themselves where Xander taught her the martial arts. When it came time to practising the moves, Hermione beat her father every time at his own moves.

Then it came to lunch. They went for a jog outside and stopped at a hotdog stand. Then, they sat on a bench discussing proper techniques in fighting. After lunch, they went back to practising. On their last round, Hermione flipped Xander onto his back. "Ha ha," Hermione said, standing over him.

"Very funny," Xander said. "You could've broken my back."

"Isn't that what I'm aiming for?" Hermione asked, folding her arms.

"Yes, but don't break your father's back," Xander said, laughing. "Now, help me up."

Hermione grabbed his hand and he tried to pull her down, but she was too strong for him. She pulled him back onto his feet.

"I guess that's enough for today," Xander said, rubbing his back. "Now that you have almost managed to break my back, I think we're finished for today."

"Oh, stop complaining," Hermione scolded. She grabbed her water bottle and started for the door. "See ya, Dad."

"Hey, wait up," Xander said, grabbing his own water bottle.

*****

Back in Canada, it was anything but friendly times. All the Weasleys, Harry, and Draco were sleeping peacefully now, but they wouldn't be later. This new big bad that was now being talked about heavily in the Wizarding World is just about to make his first presentation.

In a large building not too far away from Mellowside, a large flame appeared. The night was dark and the flame cast light along the many pillars in the hall. The flame stayed there, igniting nothing but itself.

"Do it," the flame whispered to the shadows. Out of the shadows came ten demons in human form. They bowed towards the flame and left the room through a wide archway.

In the next room, there was a large circle drawn in blood upon the floor. The ten demons stationed themselves around it and began to chant. The circle of blood glowed for a second before disappearing entirely. Five of the demons placed five crystals on the floor to form a pentagram. Beams of light connected the crystals together, forming a cage. Then, white mists appeared from all corners of the room and were sucked into the cage where they remained, captured.

Upon completion of this task, one of the demons went back into the other room where the flame was. He knelt on one knee before the flame and said, "Done."

The flame changed into a man with a long black cloak with a hood hiding his face. The mouth, which was barely visible, twisted into a smile and lightning forked outside the windows.

*****

The bright morning sunshine lit up the small room that was Ron's in Paradise Manor. Ron yawned and sat up. Harry was still sleeping on the floor. Ron got out of bed and put his slippers on. He left the room soundlessly and went into the washroom where he brushed his teeth. Then, he made his way down the hall and into the kitchen where he found Draco, dressed in a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt, pouring himself some coffee. Neither boy exchanged words as Ron poured himself some milk and found it sour.

Choking, he spit out the milk in the sink and caught Draco smirking. When Ron turned to look at Draco, his arms folded across his chest, Draco put up his hands in mock surrender. Neither dared to speak to one another because they knew they would end up fighting. He then poured the rest of the milk out and checked the expiration date on the carton. It was dated for five days ago. Hadn't Molly bought another carton of milk yesterday in preparation for Harry and Draco's arrival? He looked in the refrigerator for any other cartons but found none. Shaking his head, he wrote 'milk' on the grocery list on the fridge.

Draco went to sit on the couch and watch television while Ron went back to his room to change. By now, Ginny was also up too, and dressed as well, and as he passed her in the hallway, he said, "_Hey, Gin_," but no words came out. They both stopped in their tracks and backed up to face each other and tried to speak, but still no words came out. Then, they mouthed to each other.

"_What's happened?_" Ginny tried to ask, wringing her hands.

Ron lay a hand on the door while he thought about it. Then, he banged his hand against the wall as he remembered that Draco was staying in the house. Furious, Ron stomped into the living room and in front of the television.

"_Hey!_" Draco tried to say as Ron blocked his view of the TV.

"_You!_" Ron tried to say, pointing his finger at Draco. "_You did this!_"

"_What?_" Draco tried to ask, confused. "_I didn't do anything._"

"_Sure, sure,_" Ron tried to say sarcastically. "_You still did this!_" 

"_Ron,_" Ginny mouthed as she stepped between Draco, who was now standing, and Ron. Then, she pointed to the hallway. "_Harry!_"

"_So?_" Ron asked.

"_He might know what is going on,_" Ginny said. She led the way to Ron's room with Ron following next and Draco following last. Ginny shook Harry awake as Ron and Draco stood in the hallway.

Harry woke up, still a little groggy and confused. "_What's going on?_" he tried to ask. As he realized that he couldn't talk, Harry jumped out of the sleeping bag. "_What happened to my voice?_"

"_Not your voice, Harry,_" Ron tried to say. "_Our voices. I didn't think he knew anything._" He then left the room and went into the living room with everyone following behind him. There, they found Molly on her way downstairs into the living room.

"_Good morning, every-_" she tried to say, but stopped in mid-sentence and midway down the stairs. "_Well, that's odd._"

"_We're right there with ya, Mom,_" Ron tried to tell her. The rest of the group shrugged and went to sit in front of the television.

The rest of the morning was mayhem. The twins hurried to their F&G Inc. office building on Carrot Dr. and Arthur Apparated to the town hall. Soon Molly had left to get the groceries while the stores were still open, leaving Ginny, Ron, Harry, Draco, and a still-sleeping Percy in the house.

****

The four teenagers sat quietly on the couch while the rest of the family, except for Percy, ran out of the house. Neither teen tried to speak to each other until Ginny remembered something in the letter that Hermione had said. She got up and flew into her bedroom to look for the letter.

She couldn't remember where she had seen it last. She looked on her desk and in its drawers, she looked on her bedside tables and on the counter in her bathroom but found nothing. She looked on the floor and underneath her bed. Then she pulled off all the blankets on her bed to see if the letter was still on the bed. A movement caught her eye and she saw Draco pick up something off the floor and hold it out to her questioningly. 

Ginny nodded and smiled, taking the letter from Draco. She opened it and read it, to make sure that it was the right one. When she was satisfied, she put the letter in her back pocket.

"_Can you help me?_" she mouthed to Draco, gesturing to the blankets that were on the floor. Draco nodded and together, the pair neatly made the bed. Ginny watched Draco as they did this and noticed that his expression gave nothing of his feelings away about the night before. She guessed that it had probably felt awkward for him as it did for her, but she had to admit, she felt strangely safe in Draco's arms.

Pushing the thought out of her head, she neatly tucked in the last blanket under the front pillows and jumped onto the bed. Draco sat beside her and lay back against the pillows, closing his eyes. Ginny lay down and took out the letter, unfolded it, and reread the letter. Frowning, she tried to read the paragraph out loud. "_'If the girl said 'Can't even talk,' then you might not be able to speak soon. Buy a chalkboard if that happens.'_" She looked at Draco and thought that he might as well read the letter. She punched his leg and rolled over onto her stomach, giving him the letter and trying to say, "_Read this._" Then, she crawled off the bed and ran out of the bedroom, heading for the utility room downstairs where Ron had found the sleeping bags just last night.

***

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny:**

"By the way, Mrs. Weasley," Ron said, giving her a smile as she turned to look at him, "sorry about this."

'To Take Away Someone's Voice' was the title of the first page.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way and Ginny felt Draco grab her hand.


	7. Happy Together

**Chapter VII:**

**Happy Together**

RATING: PG

*

'Me and you and you and me 

No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be 

The only one for me is you, and you for me 

So happy together '

-The Turtles, _Happy Together_

*

As Molly entered Merlin's Convience Store, she found that the store was crowded with people trying to stock up on groceries. There was a long line-up at the cash register where one lone cashier stood, frantically trying to help his customers through all their complaints and groceries. Other store workers were busy trying to separate witches and wizards that were duelling over food. Molly sighed and went down the long aisle, keeping to herself. She looked on her list every few seconds for anything she might need. As soon as everything on her list was picked up including the milk and she had successfully avoided angering other customers, Molly made her way to the lineup and waited.

It was the longest wait Molly felt that she had ever had to take in her life. As soon as got to the cash register, she unloaded her groceries onto the counter while the cashier bagged them and totalled them up. The amount for the groceries came out of thin air in ribbony words. Molly paid for her groceries and quickly walked out of the store, passing by two wizards hexing each other over the last can of Dumbell's Hearty Chicken soup.

Molly stepped out onto the cobblestone street, happy to finally be out of there. As she turned down the street however, a person stepped out of the shadows of the alley and stepped in front of her.

"_Ron?_" Molly tried to ask. The tall red-haired boy nodded. "_Why are you here?_"

"_I wanted to help you home,_" Ron mouthed to her. He gestured the alley by the store. "_Shortcut._"

Molly nodded, a tad confused. Why would Ron use a shortcut? She shrugged her shoulders though and followed her youngest son into the alley. He gestured for her to go in front of him and she did, smiling awkwardly. The alley seemed to keep stretching on and Molly couldn't help but feel uneasy about this. She could feel that something was wrong. As she was about to turn to Ron to try and tell him this, she suddenly heard him speak clearly, as if he was not affected by whatever had happened to the town's voices.

"By the way, Mrs. Weasley," Ron said, giving her a smile as she turned to look at him, "sorry about this."

Molly felt a bump on her head and pain sear to the spot where she had been hit. The world began to blacken and she felt herself fall, face down, onto the ground where the world came to a swirling halt.

****

As soon as Ginny found the large blackboard in the utility closet, she dragged it upstairs and into the living room. She gathered all the boys (except Percy, who probably was still sleeping since there was a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on his door) into the living room and explained to them about the dream she had the morning she nearly drowned by writing it on the blackboard in chalk. She left out the part where she had kissed Draco so as to spare him from Ron's wrath though. Then she explained about what Hermione said in her letter.

When she was done, Draco held up his hand. Ginny nodded to him and he wrote something down on the pad of paper he had with him. When he finished, he held it up for everyone to see.

"_Do_ you remember what the book looked like?" it read. Ginny thought for a moment and then nodded. Draco got up and went into Ginny's room for a few minutes before coming out with a book in his hands. It was an almost light blue, and the edges of the book were scuffed so badly that the cover was starting to peel off. Draco held the book out to her and she took it, sliding her hand along the cover, almost in a mystified trance. She opened the cover as Draco sat down, waiting. The title of the book was the 'Arcs of the Unknown'. It seemed familiar to Ginny and she remembered seeing the little girl holding a book that looked like this. Ginny closed the book up and looked at the bottom where she realized that _this_ was the book the girl held.

The book suddenly opened and the pages started to flip. Startled, everyone watched as the pages flipped open to a particular page. Ginny knelt down by the coffee table and put the book on it. Everyone knelt down on the ground to look at the pages that were open.

'To Take Away Someone's Voice' was the title of the first page. It listed the instructions for the spell. Ginny grabbed a pad of paper and wrote them down to send to Hermione. Ginny always counted on Hermione to help her out with anything magical or otherwise. She was about to look for Pigwidgeon to mail her letter off to Hermione when the pages started to flip again. The page that the book opened to listed instructions to quick-mailing.

Ginny looked at Draco. He nodded and she began to write these instructions on the paper along with Hermione's name and address and then got some sugar and poured it over the address. The letter slowly dissolved from the spot where the sugar had touched and Ginny leaned back against the couch uneasily.

**

The day drifted by slowly. After television started to get boring, Ginny decided to go out for a walk. Staying in the house was making her feel like a little bird that is caged in and she hated feeling that way. She felt she would explode if she didn't get outside so she went into her bedroom and found a light blue fall jacket to wear over her t-shirt. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and made her way to the front door. She put on her running shoes when she noticed Draco leaning against the wall.

"_Want to come with me?_" she mouthed to him.

"_If it's alright,_" he mouthed back. She nodded and he grabbed a sweater from the closet and put on his own shoes. Ginny opened the door and they stepped outside together.

The sun was bright but the air was surprisingly cool for late August. The first thing that Ginny learned when she had gotten here was that you never could trust the weather. Some days it would be extremely hot and then suddenly the temperatures would dip. There could be a long dry spell and then it could rain for days, on and off. Even the thunderstorms were unpredictable. There was one thunderstorm where there was practically no lightning and another where there was a lot of lightning, but only a few feeble rumbles of thunder, but we shouldn't be talking about that.

Ginny and Draco walked down the front steps and down the path to the driveway. They walked side by side down the quiet suburban street and onto 69th Concession, heading towards the lake. They went into the forest, wary of low branches and tree roots. The sunlight filtered through the tree branches to the ground below where the pair weaved around small bushes, tall grass, and puddles of marshy water. The forest around the Southern part of the lake was more marshy than the northern part and Ginny scolded herself for not taking that part to avoid getting their shoes wet.

By the time the pair made it to drier ground, their shoes were wet at the front. They kept making their way through the forest until they got to the stony beach. Ginny could feel Draco watching her uneasily, as if unsure on if they should be there so soon after the near-drowning. She turned and smiled reassuringly at him and walked slowly closer to the water's edge. The waves lapped at her feet, making her shoes even more soggy than they already felt.

She didn't know what she had expected to see. Somehow she felt that the water would come rushing up to her and swallow her whole, but it did nothing like that. She heard the gravel behind her crunch and could feel Draco's presence before she turned around to look at him quizzically. She didn't know what she would've done if it hadn't of been Draco behind her. He put an arm around her shoulders and gently guided her away from the water. They walked along the beach and soon ended up on the other side of the lake. Ginny stopped and look along the opposite beach for the rock she had slept on two nights ago. Sighing when she couldn't find it, she turned back to Draco who nodded his head towards the forest. She nodded and they went inside the trees together.

It felt strange to be so close to someone you have hated all your life. She knew he was destined to go to the evil side and become a Death Eater, but a part of her told her that it wouldn't happen and she felt that if it didn't happen, then the world would end. One half of her told her that he would turn on her later on at school, but another half told her to stick with him. It felt even more strange to feel like she had known this guy her whole life and that they were friends too. She felt safe with him for some reason, as well. She had all these emotions and she couldn't place where they were coming from. She looked at him then. He seemed to be concentrating on the path ahead. Why would he follow her on a walk to a lake?

Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way and Ginny felt Draco grab her hand. A short way down, she felt a hard floor against her back. Draco fell on top of her, a little too close for comfort. He rolled off of her, still holding her hand and pulled her up.

"_Are you alright?_" he mouthed to her. She nodded and looked at their intertwined hands while he looked around. She wasn't sure what to do about it so she looked around with him.

It looked like they were in some type of cave. The walls and the floor were made of a smooth reddish rock. The cave was poorly lit with only torches in brackets on the walls for light. It led to another chamber that was also deserted.

Curious, Ginny started forward but Draco kept back. She turned to face him and he shook his head. She walked back to him, a pleading look on her face.

"_It might be dangerous,_" he mouthed to her.

"_Might,_" she mouthed back. He still shook his head, his eyes worried but his face giving none of his feelings away. "_Since when did you become worrying man? There is no one there. It couldn't hurt to look around, now could it?_"

Draco took out his wand with his left hand and Ginny took out her own with her right, smiling. They crept into the next room, still hand in hand. The air was chilly and eerily quiet as they passed through the chamber and into another, larger chamber.

They heard voices up ahead as they came into the next chamber. Panicking, Ginny and Draco pressed themselves against the wall in the shadows as two hooded figures drifted by.

"This is the second time that this has happened," the first figure said. He was carrying a large book that Ginny recognized as the Arcs of the Unknown. "The last time it happened, that red-haired Rune was carrying the woman that the Master had wanted captured. Rune nearly broke his neck and the woman's."

"Who cares about Rune's neck?" the second asked. "He's just a creation."

"A creation that the Master wants kept alive," the first told him. They passed into the next chamber, apparently on their way to the cave where Ginny and Draco had just fallen into.

"Oh, excuse me," the second retorted. "So, when does the Master want the spell to end?"

"The Voices' Spell?" the first asked. His voice became lower as he muttered something uninteligible. "It seems that he doesn't really care. The spell was only to freak the wizards. I think it has worked because Rune came back with a report on the state of the witches and wizards in Mellowside. He says that they have resorted to violence. The entire town is falling into disarray."

"That's good news," the second commented.

"Yes, I suppose it is," the first agreed. The pair came back into the chamber where Ginny and Draco were hiding and they pressed themsleves up against the wall even further. "I should expect for the spell to be ending pretty soon after the successful kidnapping of that Ministry of Magic wife. The Master has her locked up in the dungeons right now. She's about to be made into a demon. The Master says that it's quicker and easier to get her to talk if she's a demon. But, I will miss the fights at Merlin's Convience Store over a can of soup when this is all over."

Soon' the two demons were out of hearing and Ginny relaxed. She noticed that Draco's body hadn't relaxed yet. He pulled her out of the chamber and back into the cave where they fell in. There, they found that the ceiling had been repaired. Draco tried to mutter a spell as he pointed his wand at the ceiling and it was blasted away. He picked up Ginny by the waist and, without warning, threw her up out of the hole in the ceiling. Ginny grabbed at the edge of the hole as gravity started to pull her back down. She crawled onto solid ground, out of breath, as Draco jumped up and grabbed at the edge as well. Ginny crawled back to the hole and grabbed his arms, helping him up. As soon as he was fully over the edge, he collapsed on the ground and Ginny collapsed beside him, their breathing coming in ragged gasps.

Ginny looked at Draco out of the corner of her eye. His cheeks were rosy and the sunshine glittered off his blonde hair. He looked at her and they shared eye contact. Ginny turned over so that she could look at him better and they kept eye contact for a few seconds. Without warning, Draco reached over and pushed back a strand of hair that had fallen out from behind her ear and then the eye contact was broken. He started to get up and she immediately noticed that his body was still tense. She got up too and watched as Draco pulled off another spell to bring the ceiling of the cave back into repair so that the demons wouldn't notice it was damaged again and suspect a trespasser, or two. He turned and headed down the path. They weren't hand in hand anymore.

It was growing dark as they walked back home. Ron and Harry were downstairs playing pool and watching television when they came back. Ginny's parents and the twins weren't back yet while Percy was still in his bedroom. Ginny began to cook supper for her and Draco and for the rest of the evening, she swore she could feel Draco's eyes on her.

****

Ginny began to make dinner in the kitchen and Draco followed, although he wasn't sure why. He sat on the kitchen stool at the counter and watched her move around the kitchen, cooking dinner for the two of them. She moved gracefully, getting the plates, warming up the dinner, and so on. It seemed to Draco that she was dancing her part in a ballet, without all those pirouettes. The rosy cheeks did her justice, especially when she was out of breath. Draco felt an odd feeling that he was saying this about a Weasley. He shrugged it off, thinking he must be losing his mind.

All through dinner, he felt his eyes wander over to Ginny. She was eating very quickly as if she hadn't eaten for days. He smiled as he concentrated on eating his own food. He had to admit that the food was very delicious and that she could've made a fine cook. He looked at her again. Strands of her hair were starting to fall in front of her eyes again and Draco had to keep himself from pushing them back like he had done last time. It was just on instinct that he had done that, but why did it feel so right?

Suddenly, "Why?" Ginny asked. Draco felt as if he were in a dream where they were talking again. He shook his head and looked at her and noticed that she was as shocked as he was that she was talking.

"Why what?" Draco asked softly. 

"We're talking again!" Ginny said excitedly. Draco had the feeling that she was changing the subject.

"Why what?" Draco asked again.

Ginny suddenly calmed down. She looked down at her plate before asking, "Why were you so worried that we would get caught? That isn't like you, is it?"

Draco sighed. "It was a very tight situation. Really, I don't know what has happened to me. I feel all mushy inside."

Ginny looked at him then, confused. "Draco Malfoy can be mushy inside? I thought it was everyone else's job to be mushy for you."

Draco laughed. Before he could say anything, thundering footsteps sounded on the stairway as Ron and Harry made their way into the kitchen.

"Did you guys speak?" Harry asked.

"Yep," Ginny answered, smiling triumphantly, as if she were the one responsible for this.

"Oh, this is unbelievable!" Ron shouted.

"Keep you voice down!" Ginny scolded.

"I don't think Percy is even sleeping anymore," Ron said. "If he is, he must of taken a sleeping draught. Either way, he hasn't come down yet."

"Yeah, why is that?" Harry asked, suspiciously.

"Dunno," Ron replied. "He's usually working...on cauldron thicknesses."

As a group, they all turned to look at the stairs that led upwards very suspiciously, as if the stairs ate Percy. Ron and Harry started up them first while Ginny came next and, as usual, Draco came last. He wasn't the type to start detective work with his enemies, or ex-enemies. He would rather be a spectator. They all went up the stairway and across the hall to Percy's door where the 'Do Not Disturb' sign still hung. Ron knocked on the door, but no answer came. Ron knocked again. Still no answer. He tried to open the door.

"It's stuck," Ron said.

"Or it's locked," Ginny reminded him. "Remember that a lock coupled with a stuck door is very good at keeping the twins out." She turned to Harry and Draco and told them, "This door sticks sometimes, one of the reasons why Percy wanted it in the first place."

"I wanted it first, but Percy insisted that the twins would go into his room and turn it into a disaster area if he were on the first floor, so naturally, he got it," Ron said, turning the knob. "Percy! Open up!"

Ginny got out her wand and muttered, "_Alohomora,_" at the lock in the doorknob. There was a tiny but audible click and Ron gave the door a hard shove which brought it open. They all held their breath as the door slowly opened and they all released their breath as one.

"Where is he?" Ron asked as the group looked around the empty room.

***

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny:** Harry looked back inside the house and said, "I think you guys better come and have a look at this."

Ginny watched her brother and Harry as they went out the door, not taking her with them.

//_A large building loomed out of a crowd of trees._\\


	8. Gone

**Chapter VIII:**

**Gone**

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sherlock Holmes or Trixie Belden. They are property of their respected publishers (which I can't say because I don't know who published Sherlock Holmes, though TB is published by Golden Books, or Western Publishing). 

A/N: Okay, I know that the amount of time for the group not speaking is very short but it is kinda hard to do the not-speaking thing and give more information, so I had to cut it short. 

*

"The absence of the beloved, short though it may last, always lasts too long."

-_ Jean B. Molière_

*

"Percy?" Ron called out as he looked inside the closet. From behind Ron, Harry could see that the closet was neat and tidy with all of Percy's shirts, pants, and robes hanging neatly on the hangers. Three pairs of shoes were standing on a small shelf on the floor of the closet and right beside the shelf was a large suitcase.

Harry looked towards the bed where Draco was standing awkwardly. The bed was neatly made as well, as if it had never been slept in. There was nothing out of place, at least as far as Harry could tell. Percy was the perfectionist type and all of his belongings had a certain area for them.

Harry's eyes moved to the sliding doors, which were partially open. A small breeze was flowing in from the open door and played with the long, white curtains. He went to the doors and opened them. The sliding doors led onto a small balcony with flower pots in the wide railing. Harry went over to the flowers and examined them, finding the small flowers squished.

"He's not here," Harry heard Ginny exclaim as she came into Percy's room. "I've looked everywhere in the house, including the twins' bedrooms. I can't find him."

"Neither can I," Ron was saying. "Did you check with Dad?"

"Yes, but I didn't want to bother him with the reality until we've made sure," Ginny replied. Harry frowned and looked over the railing and down at the ground far below. Some of the bushes surrounding the house below looked dented.

"Odd," Harry whispered. He looked back into the house and yelled, "I think you guys had better come and look at this."

As soon as the other three had gone out onto the balcony, Harry pointed to the flowers and said, "They've been smushed as if someone was trying to get over the railing."

"But why would Percy use the railing?" Ron asked. "He's got the bloody door, for god's sakes."

"I don't think he himself went over the railing," Draco said, more to himself than to the others. He gestured at the length of the railing when he saw the others looking at him questioningly. "Look at how many flowers are damaged. Most of them are damaged and that takes up most of the railing. If Percy were to climb over the railing, he would only use the one place on it instead of taking up so much room. My guess is that someone dragged him over it."

"Good deduction, Sherlock," Ginny said, smiling at Draco. He smiled back and Harry looked at the pair, suspicious. They seemed awfully chummy these days, or hours actually.

"'Sherlock', Ginny?" Harry asked, though it wasn't the question he wanted to ask.

Ginny blushed. "Hey, I may not have seen those Muggle shows, but do give me credit for having read _some_ Muggle literature. Sherlock Holmes is one of my favourite detectives. Next to Trixie Belden, or course."

Harry raised his eyebrows. He looked at Ron and in the soft light that was coming from inside the house, he could see that Ron had paled dramatically and his freckles stood out.

"Where's Mom?" Ron asked Ginny. She shrugged her shoulders. "Oh my god!" Ron dashed into the house with the others following. He flew downstaris and nearly ran into the kitchen table.

Harry watched Ron look through the cupboards. Ron opened the fridge and looked in, then closed the door. "What is it?" Harry asked when he had regained control of his rapid breathing after running after Ron.

"The groceries that Mom was going to buy," Ron started to explain, "aren't in the cupboard. She should have been home hours ago, but she's not here."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. "I mean, your mother could've put away the groceries in the fridge downstairs and then went to see your father...or the twins."

"Or Percy," Ginny said quietly.

"Harry, I remember specifically that this morning I had found that the milk she had bought recently was bad," Ron said. "I put it down on the list on the fridge, specifically for that product. And the milk never goes downstairs unless it is 1% milk, which is what the twins like. The 2% comes up here, and that's what I wanted. There is no milk in the fridge."

"Maybe the store that Molly had went to didn't have any milk," Harry protested.

"Harry!" Ron said exasperatedly. He then brightened and walked into the entrance hall. Harry and the others followed and saw that Ron was putting on his shoes.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked, confused.

"Dad might know something," Ron answered, not looking up from his shoes. "I'm going there now."

"I'm going with you," Harry told him, putting on his own shoes. "After all, two is better than one, especially now that everyone seems to be disappearing."

"Fine," Ron said, opening the door and going out into the darkness. When Harry had both shoes on, he dashed outside to join Ron. 

****

Ginny watched her brother and Harry as they went out the door, not taking her with them. She sighed and walked dejectedly over to the couch where she sat down and lay her head against the pillow behind her. She closed her eyes and felt Draco sit down beside her. There was something she needed to know from him, something that couldn't wait.

"Why are you here?" Ginny asked, her eyes still closed. Draco shifted uncomfortably next to her and she heard him sigh in what could've been exasperation.

"You don't want to know," Draco said firmly. Ginny opened her eyes to look at him. He was staring off into space with no emotion except hatred on it. He turned to look at her and she could see the pain in his eyes, even a kind of helplessness. "It's a sore subject, Ginny. Besides, you already have enough on your plate without me unloading my troubles onto you."

"I'm a good listener," Ginny told him, determined to find out why he was going soft...why he was here with a famliy he hates...why he was sticking with her so much...etc, etc. The answer to her questions could lie in what drove him to Harry in the first place.

"Ginny," Draco cautioned. "Leave it. I don't want to relive it just yet."

Ginny looked down at her hands. She decided to drop the subject since she wasn't getting anywhere and thought about something else. A thought popped up in her head and she sat up quickly.

"Demons," she said out loud.

"What?" Draco asked, leaning forward.

"Remember when we were underneath the ground?" she asked. Draco nodded and she continued. "Those demons were talking about capturing a woman...a Ministry wife. What if they were talking about my mother?"

"She was going to be made into a demon," Draco commented. "Are you sure that this is your mother?"

"Mom-" Ginny began, but interrupted herself. Another thought had occured to her. "What if they turned Percy into a demon, called him Rune and got him to kidnap my mom?"

Draco shook his head. "Rune was created, not turned, and they didn't mention Percy at all. It was only the Ministry wife, which, I admit, could be your mother."

Ginny jumped up. "We gotta save her," she said, running to the door. "Harry and Ron don't know anything about the chambers we saw, so they won't know where to look for Mom. But we do. Come on, Draco."

"I don't want you to get hurt," Draco told her, a muscle in his jaw tensing. "If it's that easy to kidnap your mother, think of how easy it will be for them to kidnap you."

"I'm not looking for any support, Draco," Ginny said impatiently, coming to lean on the wall beside the entrance hall. "I'm going whether you want me to or not. Frankly, I have a good feeling that we might be able to save her." She stopped and took a deep breath, not really knowing why she was asking the boy in front of her for something he probably had never done in his life: to give for another. "The question is, are you coming? 'Cause I can go there myself if you don't want to come. I'm perfectly fine with going alone."

Draco got up quietly without saying a word. He didn't say anything more until they came to the door where they got their jackets and went outside, walking quickly to the forest. "I hope you know what you're getting us into," he said. Ginny ignored this.

Ginny took out her wand as they came into the forest and muttered, "_Lumos_." A beam of light shot out of the wand and illuminated the path in front of them. It was just as marshy as the last time they had trekked through the forest. Their shoes got wet, but Ginny didn't notice. She had her mind on more important things. The path curved around the lake and before they knew it, they had fallen into the same cave as before. Ginny landed on top of Draco, her legs intertwining with his. They tried to disentangle themselves from each toher but ended up laughing in the end. Ginny pushed herself off of Draco on the last try and got up, brushing off her jeans. Draco got up and the pair walked out of the cave and into the next chamber, not speaking.

The rest of the chambers were just a fading memory to Ginny. Each chamber looked almost like the last and led into another chamber, creating a labyrinth that made sure that strangers couldn't get out. She almost expected to see the minotaur pop up right in front of them. Draco led Ginny through the chambers, hoping to get the layout of the labyrinth so that he would be able to get them out. To Ginny, this seemed impossible. It felt like they were going in circles.

She looked at him, and in the half-light she could see that his jaw was set and his brow furrowed in intense concentration. He stopped and looked back suddenly, and then shook his head. Now, she knew that they were lost.

"We _will_ find our way out of here," Ginny said to him.

He shook his head. "When _I_ panic, be scared," he said as they dodged a waterfall coming from the ceiling. "I almost never panic, except in extreme situations, and this is one of them. We're lost, and there is no telling where we will end up."

"On somebdoy's dinner plate?" Ginny joked, trying to lighten the mood. He frowned at her and they entered a long, twisting tunnel. As she rounded the corner before Draco, she could see a flickering light at the end of the tunnel. Draco put an arm out to stop her from moving any further.

"Stay here," he whispered in her ear. She obeyed wordlessly as Draco moved closer to the tunnel's entrance and looked around. Shadows suddenly began to form around Draco and Ginny bit back a scream as he was hit in the head and fell to the ground. More hooded figures came up then and put chains around his wrists and stood him up. "Run!" Ginny could hear him yell at her. He sounded strangely distant to her. When she realized what he had said, she turned around and ran down the tunnel as fast as she could. It almost seemed like she was flying. The blood pounded in her ears and for moments that was all she could hear.

Around corners...through chambers...over gates that were charmed to electrocute strangers when opened by them...down passes...through pools of water...anything and everything that one would go through underground occured to Ginny. Her heart was pounding every second, she was quickly running out of breath, her muscles were aching and tired. She came to a stop in a small chamber that only had one torch and shrank into the shadows. A howl sang out far away which brought back the realization that Draco was caught...because of her. A tide of guilt overwhelmed her and she didn't see the flame on the torch become brighter until it was too late.

The torch's flame became as bright as an 100 Watt light bulb and the light engulfed all the shadows in the room. Ginny looked around wildly and started to walk towards the next chamber when a hooded figure suddenly appeared in front of her with a whistling sound. She slowly backed up and turned around to see another figure pop up out of thin air. The figures grabbed her arms and dragged her out of the chamber. She kicked and screamed, but to no avail. The next room strangely had a locked door that Ginny hadn't seen when she went through there before and one of the figures opened it and pushed her in.

A wall of blackness enclosed on Ginny as she heard the door close and the locks click together. She felt around her to feel her way around and concluded that she was in another tunnel. She made her way from the door and followed the tunnel as it climbed upwards. The air started to become warmer and Ginny figured that she was probably above ground by now. The tunnel made a steeper climb upwards and Ginny grabbed onto any holds that she could, straining her muscles. The wall turned into stairs suddenly and she scrambled eagerly up them.

A door appeared in front of her and she opened it. It opened noiselessly onto another room and Ginny crawled onto the floor. The door disappeared and Ginny looked around at her surroundings. She was being held in a cell that had a small window with bars on it. She stood up and went to the window, looking out. She was at least three floors up from the ground in a large building. The moon was already reaching across the sky and forest stretched on in front of her.

"Draco," she whispered, clutching the bars. A tear silently made its way down her cheek as the thought that Draco might be dead entered her mind. If only she hadn't suggested they come here, they wouldn't have gotten into this mess. While she stood at the window, a breeze ruffled the trees down below.

*****

_As soon as the sun went down in Australia, Hermione got her bag ready for another patrol in the nearest cemeteries. Her parents had given her permission to go out for patrol after nearly breaking her father's back earlier that day. Hermione smiled as she draped the strap to her weapons bag around her neck and put on her running shoes._

_"Bye!" she called to her family, who were in the living room. Her parents said goodbye, but Alexis jumped up and ran over to Hermione._

_"Are you going to be long?" Alexis asked, her big brown eyes looking up at Hermione worriedly. _Weren't Alexis' eyes blue?_ Hermione thought._

_"I'll try not to be," Hermione answered, "but I can't promise you anything."_

_"Why not?" Alexis demanded._

_"Well, my new job takes time and patience," Hermione replied. "But don't worry. You _will_ see me again. Bye bye!"_

_Alexis smiled and said, "Bye bye!" _

_Hermione smiled too as Alexis ran back into the living room. She opened the door and made her way out of the hotel. The sky was incredibly dark and the hairs on the back of Hermione's neck stood up. Not a soul was on the street as Hermione walked down the center of the street. She followed the center line to the first cemetery she saw and went in. Many rows of new tombstones had been added to the cemetery since Hermione had been there two nights ago._

_Doing her duty as resident slayer, she fought and dusted every vampire she saw. The night lagged on as Hermione walked deeper into the cemetery. The moon slowly journeyed across the sky as Hermione fought another vampire._

_//A large building loomed out of a crowd of trees.\\_

_Hermione looked around at all the shadows surrounding her, sensing another vampire hiding, waiting for his turn. _

_//A young red-haired girl stood at the window, clutching at the bars, a tear falling down her face.\\_

_"You dust me and it'll make the sun rise," the vampire said, stepping out of the shadows. Hermione turned to look at him. He had human features on, and if he hadn't been a vampire, she might have wanted to go out with him._

_"Why?" she asked him, as she went around him in a circle and stopped right in front of him._

_"That's what they all ask," the vampire said, smirking at her, "but it isn't the right question. The question _you_ should be asking is what will you do when your friends need help. You're not going to leave them in the cold, are you?" He grabbed her arms and pulled her closer to him. "You are needed, but not here."_

_//She was running from something. Something very evil was hunting her.\\_

_Hermione wrenched her arm out of the vampire's grasp and staked him with a piece of wood that she had concealed inside her sleeve._

_With the wood still stuck in his heart, the vampire said, "Just you watch." He pushed her away from him as he turned to dust and she looked up to the sky._

_//She looked back, stunned, at the suddenly dark hallway and shivered, not sure that she wanted to be there anymore.\\_

_The moon faded from view as another vampire came up to Hermione. She quickly kicked the vampire onto the ground and walked over to him. Standing over him, she knelt down and staked him in the heart, turning him to dust._

_//But what I don't understand is why you _needed_ to walk into the dark hallway.\\_

_Hermione returned her eyes to the sky as the sun quickly rose up into the middle of the it. The whole world became sunny and birds began to fly out from the trees in large flocks._

_//Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way and Ginny felt Draco grab her hand.\\_

_Hermione circled slowly around, still looking up at the clear blue sky. An unearthly music began to play, coming from the ground underneath her. She stopped circling when she felt another presence behind her and turned around to see who it was._

_//Each chamber looked almost like the last and led into another chamber, creating a labyrinth.\\_

_Before her stood the vampire that she had staked before the moon went down. He smirked and said, "You'll never figure it out, will you?"_

_"Figure out what?" Hermione asked, walking right up to him._

_"Your sister...what colour were her eyes when you saw her before?" he asked, cryptically._

_"Brown," she answered._

_"Who do you know that has brown eyes and has placed herself in your sister's dream projection?" he asked._

_"_Ginny_..." she whispered._

_"Go," he said simply before disappearing._

***

"Go," Hermione said as she suddenly woke up. It was the morning after she had trained with her father. The sun was slowly rising when Hermione realized what she had to do. She quickly got up out of bed and started to pack her suitcase and trunk. Sounds of frying bacon came from the kitchen and Hermione left her suitcases to rush out into the kitchen to find her family sitting around the kitchen table.

"Pack! We're all going to Canada," Hermione announced. Looking at her startled parents who were still cooking breakfast, she added, "Well, you can at least eat, but afterwards you have to pack."

"Why?" Xander asked, suspiciously.

"I'm needed in Canada," Hermione explained. "Ginny might be in trouble. We have to go."

"How do you know that Ginny needs you?" Elizabeth asked. "Did you read the letter she sent you?"

"Yeah, but that's not the reason why I know," Hermione answered. "I had a dream last night that Ginny was being locked up in a castle and this vampire kept saying that I was needed there, not here."

"You didn't read her letter," Alexis suddenly said, picking up an envelope off the table from her high chair. "If you did, you would have sugar on your fingers."

Hermione looked at Alexis, then at her mother. "What now? What's this about sugar?" she asked.

Elizabeth smiled and took the letter from Alexis and gave it to Hermione. "This was on the table last night when you left for patrol. It's from Ginny and it has sugar on our address."

"No, I didn't see this one," Hermione said. She sat down next to Alexis, took the letter, and opened it.

'_Dear Hermione,_

_By some unfortunate incident that I have no idea of, everyone here has lost their voices. First, since you probably don't know, Harry and Malfoy are here at Paradise Manor. Harry's uncle had a meeting in Toronto and Dumbledore advised that the pair stay with us. They arrived last night safe and sound._

_When we woke up this morning, none of us could speak. Luckily, Malfoy had this book with him called _Arcs of the Unknown_. We found a spell in there that took voices away and I thought you might like to see the instructions so you could give us some tips or advice._'

Here at the mention of the Arcs of the Unknown, Hermione sat up straighter, alarmed. She hadn't expected that to happen, but then, Malfoy was a Malfoy, freak of the Dark arts. Hermione's eyes scanned over the instructions for the spell Ginny had outlined. This letter only strengthened Hermione's resolve to get to Canada. She quickly stood up and looked at her parents.

"Can we still go?" Hermione asked pleadingly, giving her parents the sad puppy look.

Xander chuckled. "Of course," he said, pushing his own chair back. "I'll order the tickets right away."

The rest of the morning was mayhem. The whole family rushed about, picking up everything that belonged to them and packing it in their suitcases. Alexis sat on the couch, watching her family instead of the television which was playing Sesame Street, her favourite. Hermione chuckled when she came back into the living room to see Alexis watching her with big, blue eyes. She grinned at Alexis and her sister giggled, leaning back into the pillows giddily. Hermione went back into her room and packed all her books into her school trunk. When she was finished, she looked about her room, searching for anything she might have forgotten. Satisfied that she had all of her belongings, she hauled her bags out into the hallway and soon, her family was boarding an airplane to Canada.

*****

As Harry and Ron entered the town hall, a group of butterflies greeted them and flew towards the desk. The room was quite plain and simple, with green marble floors and cream-coloured walls. The desk and small chair behind it were the only furniture in the room and no one was sitting behind the desk. There were no hallway openings or stairs to go up to the floors above, which was where Ron was heading. A single painting of hills and forest adorned a wall. Other than that, the room was entirely empty and shut-off from the rest of the building.

A large butterfly left the group of butterflies dancing above Harry's head and flew over to the chair which had been drawn back. As the large butterfly with silver-tipped wings began to land on the chair, she started to morph into a beautiful woman with long, brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. She wore a long, white cloak with silver linings. Ron looked at Harry and was not surprised when he saw Harry gaping at the woman. He himself was only partially new to this, but knew it got easier to handle the woman's veela-like charms the third time around.

As the woman landed into her seat, she smiled widely at the two boys, especially Harry who still had his mouth open. "May I help you boys?" she asked, showing her glittery teeth.

"Yes, actually," Ron began, "we would like to talk to my father, Arthur Weasley. He's-"

"Yes, I know," the woman suddenly said, smiling sweetly. She raised her hand and gestured to the painting on the wall. At the slight wave of her hand, the painting inside the frame slowly disappeared and the frame got larger, large enough for Hagrid to go through. The creamy walls behind the frame slid away to reveal an oak staircase. "Mr. Weasley is now expecting you," she said. A dazzle of bright lights appeared on the woman's skin and she disappeared behind them, turning back into a butterfly. Ron grabbed hold of Harry's arm and dragged him to the staircase.

As both boys mounted the first step, Ron heard the wall behind the painting slide back into place, closing off the entrance. They kept going up under the light of large candles in brackets on the walls. Both were silent until Harry spoke.

"What was she? And what did she know?" Harry asked, as they passed many flights of stairs. On each landing there was a sign that read, 'Warning: This IS a door. Tap your wand on this sign to go through it.' 

"She's a cross between a veela and a butterfly fairy," Ron answered. "They're very popular in this part of the world. She has the same enchantment of a veela and she can morph into a butterfly."

"But her hair was brown," Harry said. "Veelas have blonde hair."

"Butterfly fairies can have brown hair and their special powers are great for secretarial jobs like this," Ron told him. "Butterfly fairies can store every law in the Wizarding World and can call them up easily. That's how she knew what my father does and where his office is."

He counted the landings until he got to the fifth floor where he took out his wand and prodded the sign with it. The sign glowed a bright orange before the wall slid away before them, revealing an even more darker hallway than the stairs. The walls were the same colour they had been in the lobby, but this time, the floor was covered in a green carpet with dark spots in it.

Ron gestured to Harry and they went down the hall to the third door on the left. Ron knocked on the door and waited apprehensively. The door was finally opened by Arthur who smiled at the boys when he saw them.

"Come on in, boys," Arthur said, opening the door wider and gesturing them in. "What can I do for you two? Have you noticed that we can all talk again?"

"Yep," Ron said, sitting at a chair in front of the desk. The room was small and brightly lit by vaious torches hanging down from the ceiling. The desk was made of oak and had piles of papers littered all over it with a marble paperweight in the shape of a hippogriff holding down a book that looked like it was about to attack anything close to it. Behind the desk and in a corner stood two file cabinets side-by-side. "But that's not what we came here to talk to you about. Have you seen Mum lately?"

Arthur shook his head and sat down behind the desk while Harry took the seat next to Ron. "Nope," Arthur said, rifling through some papers on his desk. "I haven't seen her since this morning. I assumed she went out to get the groceries. Why do you ask?"

"Have you seen Percy either?" Harry asked before Ron had a chance to. He shrugged his shoulders at Ron at his questioning look.

Arthur looked up and intercepted the boys' movements. He raised an eyebrow and answered, "No, I haven't seen Percy either, which I find very odd because he's usually so...interested in his work. He should've been here ages ago. And I got a call from Ginny asking where he might be, so elaborate. You two know something that I don't and it's apparent that Ginny does too. Now!"

Ron took a deep breath and told his father everything that they had discovered so far: that Percy was missing and looked like he was dragged away and that Molly hadn't come home yet from grocery shopping. Lines of worry began to etch themselves onto Arthur's forehead and Ron began to worry himself. If his father didn't know where Molly was, then who would?

***

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny:** A voice spoke out, seeing his chance. "Maybe you should concentrate on getting out of here, instead of making yourself look like the bad guy."

"I will," Hermione assured her father, smiling.

"There's a riot breaking out downstairs. They want to speak to the Minister, but they're not wizards," the stout little wizard said in one breath.


	9. The Other Side of the Wall

**Chapter IX:**

**The Other Side of the Wall**

RATING: PG-13

A/N: In loving memory of Richard Harris: 1930-2002. May he always be remembered. 

*

'Cause you're everywhere to me 

And when I close my eyes it's you I see 

You're everything I know that makes me believe

I'm not alone 

I'm not alone.'

-Michelle Branch, _Everywhere_

*

It was still night where Ginny was. She had spent the last half hour looking out the small window in the tiny room at the forest down below. The moon blanketed the tips of the trees with a silverish light giving an eerie glow and creating the illusion that it was moving. Now, she was pacing the small cell talking aloud to herself.

"If only I hadn't of suggested to come back here," Ginny scolded herself. "Draco wouldn't be God knows where and I wouldn't be in this cell. I shouldn't be here! I should be back home with Draco and my brothers and my father helping them look for Percy and Mum. And Harry, too. God, why did I sugest this?"

Ginny paused and looked up at the iron bars. They led onto a hallway that had a couple of torches on the walls. She went up to the bars and looked out. The hallway was deserted yet she had the feeling that someone else was there, probably in the shadows, watching her..._listening to her_.

Ginny silently moved away from the bars and resumed pacing around her cell. She threw her hands up into the air and started talking again out of habit. "I can't believe I'm here. I should be with Draco. He would know what to do, I'm sure of it. Or Harry..." She stopped pacing and sighed, dropping her arms to her sides.

A voice spoke out, seeing his chance. "Maybe you should concentrate on getting out of here, instead of making yourself look like the bad guy." The voice was deep and husky and Ginny knew at once that it belonged to a man, but not to any man that she knew. His voice came from the direction of the cell on the other side of Ginny's. She turned to look at the wall doubtfully.

"Who are you?" Ginny asked the man behind the wall. "How did you get here?"

"My name is Jason," the man replied, after a silence. "I was brought here not by will. What can I say, the Master doesn't like me dropping in."

"Why?" Ginny asked.

"They really don't like me," Jason said with laughter in his voice. "I'm not much of a great guy, so they say. The fact that I know everything about them kinda scares them, so here we all are. Who are _you_ and what's your excuse for being here?"

"I'm Ginny," she answered cautiously, trying to decide whether the guy was trustworthy or not. "My mother and brother are missing and Draco and I came here to search for them when we got separated."

"You've been here before?" Jason asked.

"We accidentally discovered this cave that led into the labyrinth," Ginny told him. "We decided to come back because we heard these two demons talk about a Minsitry wife being kidnapped." There was some movement in the next cell. "How do we get out of these cells?"

"We can't," Jason answered. "These cells are magicproof. As far as I know, magic can get in, but it can't get out, and that's as much as I know about them. I've tried to teleport myself out of here but so far, it's not working. Even breaking the bars is not a good idea. We might end up with a large injury."

_I've tried to teleport myself out of here..._ This sentence stuck out to Ginny which made her wonder, demon or wizard? "What are you? Wizard or demon?"

There was a tense silence. Then, Jason answered with another question, "Are you from the Wizarding World like I first thought?"

"Do not answer a question with another question," Ginny said, irritably. "And yes, I am from the Wizarding World. Answer my question."

Another tense silence followed before Jason took a deep breath and answered. "I'm a demon. One of the Master's best, actually. He put me in this cell because I betrayed him. The human inside of me shone through and I protected a witch against the Master's orders to kill her. Satisfied?"

"Yes," Ginny said, taking a deep breath herself. "Well, do you have any ideas as to what our grand exit will be?"

Jason laughed.

*****

Several hours and thirteen timezones later, the airplane that the Grangers were on finally landed in Toronto. Throughout the whole flight, Hermione had tried to keep her eyes open but despite her best efforts, she had fallen asleep and was now shaken awake by her mother. They left the plane along with her father and little sister and went to pick up their baggage. Then, Xander rented a car and they drove out of the still-bustling city and into the countryside. It took almost two hours to get out of the city since the main streets were narrow and clogged with cars. Alexis fell asleep and Hermione, who had gotten a good sleep on the plane, watched the cars ahead of them move slowly. It had darkened and the buildings were alight with many lights shining through the windows. Not many people were out walking tonight and the street-lights cast a sombre glow on the pavement.

Soon, Xander managed to get onto the right highway and they raced along in the right lane, _so_ not what Hermione was accustomed to. In Britain, cars drove on the left side of the road, but in America, they drove on the right. On either side of the car, buildings loomed up until they gave way to low, flat land. Trees popped up and some lights could be seen in the distance.

_Turn it inside out so I can see _

_The part of you that's drifting over me _

_And when I wake you're never there _

_But when I sleep you're everywhere_

_You're everywhere _

A sign popped up on the highway which read: 'Davis Drive- Newmarket: 1 KM'. Xander directed the car off the highway and onto the ramp that led to Davis Drive. He turned the radio on to KISS 92 and Michelle Branch was playing _Everywhere_.

_Just tell me how I got this far _

_Just tell me why you're here and who you are _

_'Cause every time I look you're never there _

_And every time I sleep you're always there _

The scenery flew by, but Hermione paid no attention to it. Her thoughts were on what Ron's house would look like. He had described it to her earlier on in the summer, but she didn't get that great of a picture. She was interested to see what it would look like up close. Would it be tall like the Burrow or would it be small? Another half hour passed and the car was guided down a long, narrow road. Other cars passed by at great speeds and Xander had to steer quite close to the side. The road suddenly changed from pavement to a dirt road and the wheels went over rocks lying forlornly on the road. Forest surrounded them on either side, and to Hermione it almost seemed like the forest was going to press in on them. She shivered and pulled her jacket close to her.

The road veered to the left and widened. The car suddenly went back onto pavement and Xander was able to go faster. A street sign loomed up ahead, and in the headlights of the car, it read: 'St. Andrew's Drive'. Elizabeth, who was anxiously looking at a road map, told Xander to turn onto this street and he did. The trees did not relent, but they seemed to be growing thinner. A house could be seen hidden behind one clump of trees and another road came up, this time leading to the left. Xander drove onto this road on Elizabeth's orders and beautiful, quiet houses stood out on either side. He looked for Hyacinth Drive and turned onto it.

"Wait!" Hermione suddenly said. Xander stepped on the brakes and the car behind them nearly rammed into them. The person of that car honked the horn furiously and Xander drove to the side where he parked. "We have to get into the Wizarding part of the town, Mellowside."

"Oh, yes, that's right," Elizabeth said up front. "Honey, drive to the park. Let's see if we can get into Mellowside."

"You probably won't be able to since there are no cars in Mellowside," Hermione told them. "You'll have to get a suite in Summerside and I'll walk to Ron's house."

Her parents nodded quietly, but reluctantly. They drove her to the park where they dropped her off with her baggage and she trudged over to the gazebo. The air was crisp and laughter from people across the park rang down to her. She sighed and got into the gazebo. Then, she walked into the railing and let the magic bring her to Mellowside.

The park in Mellowside was empty and silent. Eerie even, if Hermione wasn't a slayer. She got out of the gazebo and made her way back to Hyacinth Drive. The streets were empty except for the odd wizard that was finding his way home from the nearest pub. Dimly-lit street lights lit the cobblestone streets, illuminating any pebble that an unsuspecting person could trip over. Hermione crossed the street and onto Hyacinth Dr. This street was small with only a few houses on either side and a lot of trees. She could see a small little house up in one of the trees and found that there was a soft glow coming from it. Someone probably lived there. She walked down the sidewalk to the second house on her right and stopped at the end of the driveway to look at the house.

Well, Paradise Manor certainly was smaller than the Burrow, height-wise. There were only two floors on this one and a hill curving away from the side of the house where she could see stone steps leading down. It looked wrong, for some reason. She shrugged her shoulders and watched as a street light beside her suddenly went on. The light illuminated the house more and she saw that it was a dark blue. The garage was completely detached from the house with only a trellis that had vines with pretty blue flowers crawling up it linking it to the house. There was a balcony on the top floor and Hermione moved towards the stone stairway built into the hill by the side of the house. This stair led to a stone patio which opened from the bottom floor and reached around the house.

She sighed and went up the stone pathway to the front door of the house. There were no lights on inside the house, but it was pretty cool and Hermione wanted to get inside quickly. She went up the steps and knocked on the door that was painted a Christmas-y red and waited patiently. No answer. She knocked again, but still there was no answer.

She dropped her suitcase on the front step dejectedly and sat on her school trunk which she had placed on top of it. She wondered if she should try to find a way inside, but thought that she shouldn't intrude so she dug out a sweater and put it on underneath her jacket. After awhile, she pulled out the book _100 Ways to Cure Madison's Cold_ and began to read.

A movement suddenly caught her eye and she glanced up to see a man coming out from the trees where the little house up in a tree was. He was fairly tall with long, black robes and a hood to cover his face. His gait was quick and sprightly, so Hermione suspected that he was a young guy. She suddenly realized that he looked like a Death Eater and that he was coming towards her so she jumped up quickly, knocking her book to the ground.

"What business do you have with the Wealseys?" the man asked. He pulled down his hood to reveal his face and she saw that he had jet black hair and grey eyes which were pretty suspicious at the moment.

"I'm a friend from the school that Ron Weasley goes to," Hermione replied slowly. "I just came from a vacation and I thought that I should stay here over night, but it seems that they're either not home or they're sleeping."

"They're not home," the man told her simply, waiting for her to leave.

Hermione tilted her head to the side and studied him, feeling that something was very out of sorts here. The last time Ginny spoke to her, well she wasn't really speaking at all, she had said that their voices had been taken. And now this guy was _speaking_!

"Wait a minute!" she practically shouted, startling the guy. "You're speaking! When did you get your voice back?"

The surprise died down in his eyes and he was only too happy to answer, "This evening actually."

"Really?" Hermione asked, surprised herself. "I would've thought it would take longer to get your voice back. Do you know how it came back?"

The man shrugged his shoulders. "Nope," he answered. He paused and then held out his hand. "My name is David Evison. I'm a seventh-year at Congalus here in Mellowside. I can tell by your accent that you're from Britain. Hogwarts?"

Hermione nodded and said, "Good guess! My friends are here on vacation and I just came here from Australia. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way." She took his hand and shook it. She gestured to her school trunk where they sat down. "So, you're going to Congalus, are you? I hear that the professors there are really strict."

"Then, you heard right," David told her. "Last year, I never had a good night's sleep until the holidays came. What about you? How are your teachers?"

Hermione chuckled and they continued talking until David checked his watch.

"Oh, I've gotta go," David said, getting up from the trunk. Hermione stood up too. "I've got watching duties this year."

"Oh? What are those?" Hermione asked.

"Well, every street has a watcher that keeps track of the comings and goings of those that live on their street and visitors," David answered. "It's a hard job."

Hermione grinned and said, "Well, have fun on your _hard _job. It was nice meeting you, David."

David grinned too. "Yeah. You too."

Hermione stuck her hands in her jakcet pockets as she watched him go down the driveway and across the street back into the trees where his little watcher's post stood. He seemed a nice enough guy and reminded her so much of Harry. Speaking of Harry...

****

Harry and Ron were following Arthur Wealsey all over the Ministry building. Harry had just had three cups of coffee to keep himself awake and was still feeling a little drowsy, but he didn't dare bring it up as Arthur looked very grave already. He was busily finishing a fourth that the wizards in the office they were in had just given him when a stout little wizard ran into the office, completely out of breath.

Arthur had led the two boys into the Department for Missing Wizards and Magical Mischief and the Department for Magical Muggles where two middle-aged wizards sat behind two separate desks. Both wizards had brown hair, blue eyes, and completely resembled each other in other areas from head to toe. Now, these twins stood up in one movement, as if they were joined together somehow.

"Who goes there?" the one on the left said.

"Speak your piece!" the one on the right said.

The stout wizard took a deep breath and said in one breath, "There's a riot breaking out downstairs. They want to speak to the Minister, but they're not wizards." He paused, gasping for air, then continued. "They've threatened violence if they don't see the Minister soon."

The two look-a-like wizards ran out of the office together with their wands in hand. The little wizard followed, somewhat reluctantly though. Harry looked at the nameplates on each of the wizards desks. Howard Stein and Mickey White. _How is that possible?_, he thought. His attention was shifted to Arthur, however, who had turned to the two boys, worried.

"If I get you out of this building in some way other than using the front door, do you promise me to go right home?" Arthur asked. Harry looked at him doubtfully, but Arthur saw it and shook his head. "It is my job to protect you, but I can't exactly do that with one of my sons and my wife missing and a riot downstairs in the lobby." He smiled tiredly and continued. "I'm sorry, but that's the way it's got to be. Now, I don't want either of you around here, got it?"

Harry and Ron nodded absently and followed Arthur out of the office. They quickly found a staircase at the back of the building and Arthur chaperoned them to the outside of the building where he left them quite a distance away and headed back to the town hall. Harry looked at Ron who shrugged and they walked back to Paradise Manor, neither of them speaking. When they had gotten to the foot of the driveway, Ron suddenly froze in step and had his eyes fixed on a huddled figure at the front door.

Pulling out their wands, Harry followed Ron to the corner of the house where the figure couldn't see them. Ron crept out from their hiding place, his wand held high, when Harry realized that the magical motion detectors would sense them and turn on the lights that were hidden in the garden by the pathway. He was about to point this out when the garden was flooded with light, illuminating everything and everyone except him, but he stepped out of the shadows and into the light.

The figure on the doorstep had jumped up and was holding her own wand ready. She had long, curly brown hair and brown eyes. She wore designer Muggle clothes and was about an inch taller than he had last seen her and was also more buff than he had last seen her. His eyebrows jumped at the appearance of the girl in front of him and for a moment he was speechless. Ron, who was beside him, was also pretty speechless since his mouth had dropped open and he hadn't bothered to close it yet.

"Hermione?" Harry asked, uncertainly.

Hermione smiled, relieved, and said, "Surprise!"

****

_Aerials, in the sky, _

_When you lose small mind, _

_You free your life. _

_Aerials, so up high, _

_When you free your eyes, _

_Eternal prize._

He could feel another presence in the room without opening his eyes. When he did open his eyes, it was with an effort. He felt like large amount of lead had been deposited into his veins making his movements slow and clumsy. Before the room he was in had even came into focus, he tried to sit up. He managed to get on his elbows, however, before the other presence in the room stirred and hurried over to him to push him back down.

"Stay down," the person said. The voice seemed feminine. "The transformation is not yet complete."

"Transformation to what?" Draco asked, his voice sounding distant to his own ears. The world had not yet swam back into focus but he could make out a blurry form in front of his eyes.

The form shifted and began to move. Draco suspected whoever she was had gotten up, though the bed hadn't moved.

"That I cannot tell you," the woman said. "Not until the transformation is complete."

"Where am I, then?" Draco asked.

"Your new home," the woman said. Footsteps rang against the hard floor and the woman's presence moved across the room to the door. "Take some rest."

A door closed with a soft click. Draco closed his eyes, relaxing his body. He did not remember what had happened to him after he had yelled to Ginny to run. He didn't even know where Ginny was. He hoped that she had gotten home safely, but in the back of his mind, he knew she hadn't. She was still somewhere in the large labyrinth either waiting for him or already captured.

Suddenly, a searing hot pain shot through his body and he twitched violently. The pain was so fierce that it almost blinded him. He could hear himself call out into the silence of the room as the pain wracked his entire body. Then, it began to ebb away, scraping away the heaviness in his skin with it. His vision cleared and he sat upright, looking about the room he was in.

It was a large room with oak paneling and oak bookshelves lining the walls, their shelves brimming with books. There was a fireplace on one wall and a large window seat that had crimson cushions in the opposite wall. Draco was lying on a large, four-poster bed that also had crimson cushions, the colour of blood. A small table stood in the middle of the room with dark-coloured armchairs surrounding it.

"Well," Draco muttered, observing the crimson patterns on his quilt, "someone obviously has a blood fetish."

He rolled off the bed and went to the window where he kneeled on the seat and looked out. It was quite dark outside and the moon illuminated the rows of trees below marching into the distance. He seemed to be quite a few stories up. This startled him. He had expected to still be below ground in the labyrinth but it was no longer so. There was nothing familiar to him and it aggravated him. He jumped off the window seat, picked up the nearest fragile object, and threw it across the room at the fireplace. It shattered into a million pieces with a loud crash.

He heard a whistling sound behind him and turned to see a beautiful young woman appear out of thin air. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She looked quite young to him and wore a rather fitting black dress with a plunging v-neck that came down to expose her belly button. A thin, gold chain held the two sides of her dress together so that nothing could be seen...much and he saw that there was a long slit in the side of her dress. Now, she looked worried, reproachful even.

"What is wrong?" she asked in a thick accent that Draco couldn't guess the origins of. "I sensed your anger and was worried." When he didn't say anything, she continued. "Why are you out of bed? You should still be resting."

"I'm fine," Draco said icily, turning away. She placed her hands on her hips and pointed to the bed.

"Get in bed," she told him. "NOW!"

"Not before you tell me who you are," Draco said. She grabbed his wrist in an effort to pull him onto the bed but he yanked his arm away from her. She folded her amrs across her chest and began tapping her left foot. The noise began to drive Draco up the wall so much that he snarled, "Honestly, blond does not look good on you. Maybe you should try something different, something that doesn't make you look so dumb."

The girl shook her head at this and snapped her fingers. The blonde strands of her hair began to recede into short, dark brown, curly strands that actually did do her justice. She quietly walked over to one of the bookshelves and opened it like a door. She looked at her image on the mirror on the back of the bookcase and then closed it.

"Get back into bed!" she said firmly.

"Fine, slut," Draco said, moving towards the bed. His brain suddenly cleared as if a great fog was lifted and he realized what he had just said. He only said those kind of things to people he knew but didn't like and he just met this woman. Panic started to set in as he sat down on the bed and turned to see the girl looking at him, annoyance and amusement in her eyes.

"You will see some transitional periods where the human in you panics," she said, pacing to and fro in the middle of the room, "but not to worry. Your human self will be slowed from showing itself often and we will see your arrogant self, which I assume is only going to get worse--even if that is the worst you can say at the moment. Soon, all memories of your friends and family and everything tying you to your mortal nature will be stripped away."

"Who are you?" Draco repeated. Again she ignored the question.

"You will not be allowed to get out of this building until the Master says you are ready," she continued. "You cannot magically or otherwise get out, so there is really no use in trying. However, you can get out of this room, but really there's no point in that. Everything you need is right here in this room behind each bookcase, but if you feel the need for something else, call me using that annoying little bell on your bedside table."

She stopped pacing and watched in annoyance as Draco leaned over in his bed and pushed the ringer down on the bell. It pinged once and Draco grinned mischieviously at her expression. Then, becoming serious, he asked again, "Who are you?"

She resumed pacing and ignored him for a third time. "I expect you to read all of the books in this room to fill up your time and train you. Breakfast is at six in the morning, lunch at 12:30, and dinner at 8 pm. But if you're not a day person, then breakfast is during dinner, lunch at 12:30 pm, and dinner during breakfast. Before each meal, you will find a tray of food set on your table which you cannot eat until the correct time, therefore, each morning you must be up in time for breakfast. We are very meticulous about these things. I think that is all to be covered. Any questions?"

"Well, actually, there is this just one question," Draco said in a childish voice. "Who are you?"

The woman sighed and stopped pacing. "I am Galan, your care-keeper and teacher until you are ready to go out into the world. Is that answer good enough for you? Yes? No?" Draco nodded. "Good." She went out the door like before. Draco smiled, sank back into his bed, and promptly fell asleep.

****

_Swimming through the void _

_We hear the word, _

_We lost ourselves, _

_But we find it all?_

Ginny was sitting down on the floor of her cell quietly listening to Jason speak on the other side of the wall. He was telling her everything about the Master, as the demon was commonly called, and the operations the Master ran, which included half of the government of the Underground. The Master had poilitical ties in every country which made it easier for him to move around. Well, almost every country.

"He's not like Lexus," Jason was saying. Lexus was the other demon who owned the other half of the Underground. "He enjoys being above ground to gather information about areas of interest for demons. It's not entirely without reason too. For months he was working on a project that involved using humans. I haven't heard anything about the project since... like, two months ago. He was working on it and then he just stopped, without warning."

"Without warning?" Ginny asked, trying to stifle a yawn. She had to admit, this was pretty boring. _If only Hermione were here_.

"Yep, just like that," Jason said, snapping his fingers. He sighed and there was a slight pause before he continued. "Wherever he comes into a certain area, he gets his Seer to send visions or dreams foretelling future events to all those capable of getting these visions and who live in the area. He's quite twisted when you think about it, actually."

But Ginny had stopped listening to Jason from that point on. _He gets his Seer to send visions or dreams foretelling future events to all those capable of getting them._ Her mind whirled as she recalled her dream that she had the morning after her almost-death. The dream had felt so real she was almost certain that it was a vision. Would this mean that she could receive visions?

Closing her eyes and tuning Jason out, Ginny focused her mind on receiving another vision. She concentrated until her brain began to hurt, screwing up her concentration. She leaned back against the wall and decided to listen to her breathing to see if it would help her get a vision faster. All of the muscles in her body began to slowly relax...and then...

Ginny inhaled deeply, a little too quickly for her liking, as a vision jumped up in front of her eyes. Her head began to pound as she saw pictures moving in front of her, slowly coming closer to her and then swalloing her up wholly as she found herself inside of them.

\\_"By the way, Mrs. Weasley," Ron said, giving her a smile as she turned to look at him, "sorry about this."_

_Molly felt a bump on her head and pain sear to the spot where she had been hit. She felt herself fall, face down, onto the ground where the world blackened._//

\\_A pentagram was drawn on the floor in blood and a blonde-haired boy lay in the middle of it. Five Dark priests stood outside the pentagram, each stationed at a point in the star. They were all chanting in Latin, dressed in red robes, and palms raised up to the sky. A sudden bolt of lightning flew down into the middle of the pentagram, striking the boy, and as it retreated, his body jumped a foot off the ground. He still did not wake up._//

\\_The Arcs of the Unknown lay on a table, unopened. The cover suddenly blew open and the pages began to flip by themselves before stopping on a page near the end of the book._//

\\_A huge chunk of concrete was falling out of the sky. As it landed, it exploded. Huge puffs of red flame stretched into the sky and almost formed a mushroom cloud._//

"GINNY?!" Jason yelled. The last vision had left Ginny's ear drums ringing and at first, she didn't hear Jason calling her. The vision faded away from her eyes, but she remembered every single image.

"We have to get out of here," she said in a shaky voice. "NOW!"

"Then, I'm afraid I can't help you," said a foreign, female voice. Ginny jumped up and ran to the bars and looked out. A figure emerged from the shadows. The woman was robed in deep red and had a hood on, hiding her face. Slender hands reached up and pulled the hood down, revealing a young woman with short, brown curls that bounced around her fair face. As Ginny looked at her, the woman smiled at her in a non-kindly manner. Pure malice danced in the woman's eyes as she looked Ginny over, who was wearing a pair of faded jeans and gold t-shirt with her black robes on top.

"Not you," Jason groaned from the other side of the wall.

***

[A/N: The last two verses is from the song _Aerials_ by System of a Down. The other two verses in the story (not including the beginning of the story but is still the same) is _Everywhere_ by Michelle Branch.]

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny_:_**

"Speaking of Ginny," Harry said, "where is she? We left Draco and her here, but they don't seem to be here."

"Drink the rest of it, Mister Draco," the little girl said.

"Who the hell are you?" Ginny asked.


	10. The Book

**Chapter X:**

**The Book**

RATING: PG-13

DISCLAIMER: The Teleportation Spell is mine, but the Tracking Spell is from Charmed, along with the quote: 'Ain't magic grand?' 

*

'Here by my side, an angel.

Here by my side, the Devil.

Never turn your back on me,

Never turn your back on me again.

Here by my side, it's heaven.'

~ Matthew Good, _Weapon_

*

"Surprise!" Hermione said, smiling at the two boys standing in front of her. They had each grown a little taller since the last time she saw them, and both boys looked at her in astonishment. 

Ron quickly gained his voice back and began to gather Hermione's luggage. "Here, let me take these in for you."

"No, no, that's okay," Hermione said. "I'm perfectly fine bringing these in myself, except the door is kinda closed, so I can't really do anything until you open it." She smiled at Ron again and he fumbled for the doorknob, blushing. Finally, gaining all of his composure and the upper hand with the door handle, he held the door open for Hermione as she trooped in with her backpack and her trunk on top of her suitcase. "Where do you want me to put these?"

"Uh," Ron scratched his head. "Do you want to sleep on the couch downstairs or the couch here?"

"I'll stay here," Hermione said and Ron led her into the living room where she dropped her bags by the wall and sat on a chair. Harry had followed them in and sat down on the couch with Ron.

"So...what are you doing here?" Harry asked. "I mean, not that we don't want you here because we do, it's just that you were on vacation in Australia."

"I can cut off my vacation," Hermione said, shrugging nonchalantly. "I just figured you guys needed me to be here instead of in Australia."

"How'd you know?" Ron asked. "Besides from Ginny."

"I had a dream, sort of," Hermione replied. "I figured that you guys needed my help or something because of what I saw. Ginny was crying, so I thought that she wanted my help so I convinced my parents to come here, and they're staying in the hotel in Summerside, by the way."

"Speaking of Ginny," Harry cut in, "where is she? We left Draco and her here, but they don't seem to be here."

"Ginny?!" Ron called out. There was no answer. He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "I can't believe this. Four missing people in one day!"

"Missing people?" Hermione asked. She hadn't expected missing people. People in trouble, yes, but missing, no. She turned to Harry when Ron didn't answer. "What is he talking about?"

"We discovered that Mrs. Weasley and Percy are missing a little earlier," Harry told her. "We've just come back from the Town Hall to tell Mr. Weasley about it, but a riot broke out and now we're back here."

"A riot?" Hermione asked. "What was it about?"

"A group of non-wizards wanted to see the Minister," Ron explained. "The Minister for Magic of Canada is visiting here from headquarter offices in Ottawa and these guys wanted to see him."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Hermione asked, getting up out of her seat and stretching her legs. "Let's go."

She went into the entry hall with the boys following. "Go where?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"To the Town Hall," Hermione answered impatiently.

"But my dad doesn't want us there," Ron told her. "We would still be there if we were allowed."

"So?" Hermione said, putting her hands on her hips. Harry looked at Ron and Ron looked at Hermione.

"Well, isn't this new?" Ron asked, shaking his head.

"Hermione Granger, breaking the rules," Harry said, laughing.

"Like I've said before, I think we've had a bad influence on her," Ron said, grinning. It was Hermione's turn to shake her head.

"Boys," she muttered under her breath as the threesome trooped out the door and into the cool night air.

*****

_The room was awfully large. It had pillars all along one wall and windows all along the other. A throne stood at one end of the room, upon which there was a man robed in black with the hood drawn over his face. A door stood at the other end of the room opposite of him._

_"Bring them in," he said suddenly to a guard behind him on his right. The guard went forward and opened the door, spilling in three robed demons who were holding a young, blonde-haired boy: Draco Malfoy. "You brought me a present?"_

_"Yes, Master, we have," one of the demons said. They moved forward and lay Draco on top of a drawing on the floor. "We found him and another in the labyrinth. The boy fell easily into our trap, but the girl got away as a result of his last show of courage. He told the girl to run, which of course she did. We finally found her near the entrance to the labyrinth, but she hadn't figured that out yet so she was easy prey. We have the girl now in a holding cell and we brought him to you for instruction."_

_A few heartbeats passed before the Master announced, "Turn him. Make sure he is fully demon before you bring her to him. If I am right, the pair should have some affections towards each other which we can exploit."_

_At this point, a slender woman wearing a fitting black dress with a plunging v-neck and sporting blonde hair, stepped out of the shadows. "The girl is the daughter of a Ministry official from Britain. The boy is the son of a prominent Death Eater to the Dark Lord Voldemort."_

_"Thank you, Galan," the Master said to the woman. "This new information means that we can go ahead ealier than planned. Am I correct to assuming that the Minster for Canada will be in Mellowside this evening on a two-day visit?"_

_"Yes, you are, my liege," Galan said._

_"I thought so," the Master continued. He got up from his throne and walked over to where the boy lay. "My friend, you will prove very useful to me as a demon." Draco didn't stir. "When your girlfriend sees the true nature of the demon, she'll be forced to send visions to her friends and tell us everything she knows about the Ministry. The more Ministry officials who know about her visions and come looking for her, the more we can trap them for information on the Ministry and corrupt it. Then, you can kill them," he told the boy laying on the floor. "She'll never forgive you, especially when you kill her too. Breaking hearts is my specialty." He straightened and turned to the three demons who were standing around him. "Send out the team. They know what to do, so no questions. I want fire to rage through the streets of Mellowside. Once I leave, turn the boy. I've always loved fireworks."_

_The Master turned on his heel and vanished in a wreath of fire. The three demons left the room as well to send out the team and Galan gestured to the five priests who had just appeared in the shadows._

_"Turn him," Galan told them. "When he wakes up, he'll be a demon like us."_

_A pentagram was drawn on the floor in blood and Draco lay in the middle of it. Five Dark priests stood outside the pentagram, each stationed at a point in the star. They were all chanting in Latin, dressed in red robes, and hands raised up to the sky. A sudden bolt of lightning flew down into the middle of the pentagram, striking Draco, and as it retreated, his body jumped a foot off the ground, though he did not wake up._

_The head priest walked from his position at the top of the star over to Galan. "Done," he told her in a thick accent, and he disappeared in a funnel of black smoke. The other priests disappeared that way as well. Galan smirked and walked slowly to the pentagram, looking down at the boy inside._

_"Have fun," she said and walked towards the door. Galan disappeared into thin air with a whistle. The two guards still standing by the throne went over to the pentagram and picked up the boy._

***

Draco bolted upright from his place on the pillows on his bed. He coughed as he suddenly felt like something was constricting his throat, making it tighter and harder to breathe. When this passed, he also realized that he wasn't the only one in the room. A small little girl with curly blonde hair and wearing a red silk dress was sitting on the edge of his bed. To Draco, she looked like a small angel that belonged to heaven, not to hell. She also looked very familiar to Draco, looking like someone he knew, but it wasn't possible for him to see _her_ again. 

She smiled when he looked at her and held out her hand, not to him, but to the bedside table. A champagne flute floated from the table and onto the palm of her hand. She picked up the flute and held it out to Draco, who looked at it warily.

"You must drink this, Mister Draco," she said, giggling. Draco took the flute and looked at the brown liquid inside. He frowned and smelled it. There was no smell that he could sense, so he placed the flute to his lips and took a sip.

"Ugh," Draco said, shivering as he digested the potion. "This tastes like ass-" off the girl's look, "-phalt."

The little girl giggled some more as Draco looked at his glass, a purely disgusted look on his face. "Drink the rest of it, Mister Draco," she said.

Draco obeyed and drank the rest of the potion in one gulp in an effort to get rid of it faster. He shivered as the potion spread through his veins, surprisingly warming him up. "What the hell is this stuff?" he gasped, but the tlittle girl was gone. This left him alone in the room, still holding the flute in his hands. He didn't know it as he held that glass, but he had just started sealing his conversion.

****

"Yes me," the woman said.

"Who the hell are you?" Ginny asked.

When the woman didn't answer, Jason spoke. "She's Galan, the Master's main Seer." Galan turned to him as he spoke and when he finished, silvery blue threads of light flew out of her hands and into the cell next to Ginny's. Ginny heard a gasp and a thud. She gasped herself.

"What happened?" Ginny called to Jason. "What did she do to you?"

Right when she finished her sentence, the same silvery blue threads flew out of Galan's hands towards Ginny. Ginny felt her body suddenly twist and writhe, her heart beating painfully against her ribcage. Her heart skipped a few beats and she screamed out in pain. Then, the roaring in her ears suddenly stopped and she crumpled to the ground, her heart regulating itself again. She felt blood drip from her mouth and gulped it back down. She hardly heard Galan's next words, but she could guess what they were.

"How's this for an answer? That was my own brand of electric shock," Galan said happily. "Shocking, isn't it?"

"Bitch," Ginny heard Jason say from the next cell. She looked up at Galan. She seemed unfazed by what Jason had just said and looked as if she had received a triple chocolate birthday cake.

"I have been sent to tell you, Ginny Weasley," Galan began, "that you will be able to see Draco Malfoy."

Ginny's ears pricked up, expecting Galan to say more. However, she didn't continue. She vanished with a whistling sound leaving Ginny and Jason alone.

"We have to get out of here," Ginny said, picking up on her train of thought before Galan had interrupted. "Something bad is going to happen to Draco, I just know it."

"It's already happened," Jason said quietly. "The Master has already converted him to a demon. I'm sorry, but that's the truth."

"No, no," Ginny said, panicking. "Draco couldn't be a demon. He could never become a demon."

"Ginny, it's the truth," Jason said firmly. There was a pause. "Are you a Seer?"

Ginny paused herself before continuing. "I think so," she finally answered. "What does that have to do with Draco being a demon?"

"They want to bring you to him when he's fully converted so that he'll scare you into sending visions to your friends and parents," Jason told her. "They'll come here after getting your visions and the Master will use them to get more information about the Ministry before killing them. You can't allow that to happen, Ginny. This is exactly what they're planning and you're going to play right into their hands if you do send out visions to your family."

"Draco is not--" Ginny began, but Jason cut her off harshly.

"Yes, he is, Ginny," Jason said, "and so am I. You're still talking to me right? So, why should Draco be any different?"

Ginny gave that some thought. She certainly hadn't expected a demon to be so nice to her and _good_ like Jason was.

"I want you to promise me something," Jason continued after taking Ginny's silence that she might actually do this. "The conversion doesn't take a long time. In fact, it only takes a few potions to completely seal it, which Draco will take one every hour. This means that Galan will bring you to him in a few hours. When you see him, he's going to be pretty cruel to you but that's only because of the influence of the potions. If you somehow get back to him and win him over to our side, then we should be able to stop the Master from taking over the Wizarding World. Can you do that for me? Can you promise me that you'll fight your way back to Draco so we'll have a better chance at surviving?"

Ginny got up and closed her hands around the solid iron bars. She took a deep breath before saying, "I promise."

"Okay, good," Jason said happily. "Now here's what you're gonna do..."

****

When Harry, Hermione, and Ron arrived at the Town Hall, they found the bottom floor engulfed in total chaos. Worried witches and wizards milled about as a ring of hooded figures stood in the middle of the room, a fire at their feet. The front desk and chair were engulfed in flames and the butterflies that Ron and Harry had seen here earlier were hiding in a corner of the room.

"Um, can we go now?" Ron asked, his voice pitching slightly higher than usual, but Harry and Hermione weren't paying attention to him, for one of the hooded figures had just snatched up a witch and was dangling her over the fire, ready to drop her in. The witch screamed blue murder and a mass of wizards ran forward to attack the hooded figures holding the woman, but some unseen magic blasted them backwards. The figures all laughed as the witch was thrown back into the crowd.

"Silence!" someone suddenly yelled above the din. All eyes turned to an elderly man standing at the entrance to the unseen staircase. He was tall and thin with greying brown hair and a Muggle suit. He looked very anxious.

One of the hooded figures stepped forward towards the man and said, "Come with us and there will be no casualties. Don't come with us, and the whole town will die." He held out his hand to the man and the man looked at it, deciding whether it would bite him. Finally, he took the proffered hand and all the hooded figures and the man disappeared into thin air. Then, wizards rushed forward to put out the fire.

"Ooh, why did he go with them?" Hermione asked angrily, stamping her foot. "We've got to find them to see what they want."

"Are you sure that's such a great idea considering how the mean-people-who-aren't-Death-Eaters could ward off wizards more effectively than wizards can attack them?" Ron asked skeptically.

"The mean-people-who-aren't-Death-Eaters are demons, Ron," Hermione said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Demons?" Harry asked.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "What else could they possibly be except for Death Eaters? Not a whole lot of beings in this world yield great magic like that and go around wearing long, black cloaks. Unless they were evil witches outside the Wizarding World." Ron and Harry looked at her meaningfully. "I'll tell you about that later. But we have to find the demons. They must live somewhere, serve someone. If we followed them, then we could find out the answers."

"If they're demons, then I don't think we'll be able to track them using any wizarding method," Harry said. "We're going to have to use the Arcs of the Unknown for this."

"Right, let's go," Ron said and the threesome ran all the way back to Paradise Manor where Harry found the book sitting on the kitchen table.

"That's odd," Harry said, fingering the cover of the book. "I'm sure that this wasn't here before we left."

"Harry!" Hermione said exasperatedly for a reason that even she didn't know of. Suddenly, the cover of the book blew open and the pages began to flip by themselves before stopping on a page near the end of the book.

"'Tracking Spell'," Harry read aloud. "It's odd how this book always seems to have what we want, isn't it?" Hermione nodded at him wordlessly while Ron simply looked blank.

The earth beneath them shifted suddenly and Harry nearly fell into Ron. The world steadied itself before lurching again. Harry fell to his knees and covered his head as dishes came clattering out of the cupboards and fell on the floor next to him. Another lurch sent all the vases tumbling to the floor along with a cabinet and Harry could hear things falling on the floor upstairs. Then, everything became eeriely quiet. He looked around the room and saw that Ron and Hermione were underneath the table, Ron clutching Hermione for dear life. Pieces of dishes and splintered wood littered the floor around the room.

"Earthquake," Hermione said, disentangling Ron from her arms and getting up from underneath the table. "But we're too far inland for bad earthquakes like that."

"I doubt that that was an earthquake," Harry said, standing up and picking up the Arcs off the table where it had remained, almost as if it was glued down. "That was something else."

Ron got up from underneath the table as well, albeit shakily, and scratched his head. "An incredibly large Giant?" he asked. His eyes grew wide suddenly. "The Town Hall! Do you think the demons did something to the Town Hall?"

"They must've," Harry replied. "I have a hard time believing that those demons would leave the Hall without a big bang."

"Should we go see what happened?" Hermione asked.

"We could get killed," Ron said then, picking up his case eagerly. "Those demons could attack again and we might be in the crossfire the next time."

"I doubt it," Harry said. "Probably enough damage was done already that they won't need to do more. We'll bring the book." Off both his friends' glances, he added, "Just in case."

Now they ran all the way back to the Town Hall, or what was left of Town Hall. As they approached, Harry could see dense clouds of smoke billowing out of the windows on the top floor. Flames were licking the edges of the damaged roof and crowds of witches and wizards were standing outside, helping to gather those who needed help. Medi-wizards ran through the crowds with their bags and tended to any wizard who needed help.

"Oh no," Hermione said as they made their way through the crowds to the barriers that were set up around the building. From there, they could see flames licking the windows of the bottom floor.

Harry looked around the crowd for Arthur Weasley. He spotted him quickly and pointed him out to Hermione and Ron. They made their way through the crowd to where Arthur was standing at the barrier talking to a couple of other wizards. Arthur quickly finished talking to them when he spotted the threesome.

"What are you three doing here? I thought I told you three to stay at home!" Arthur said, eyes sliding over Hermione. When he finally realized who she was, he chuckled. "Oh Hermione! Didn't know you were here."

"It's okay, Mr. Weasley," Hermione said, smiling. "I just flew to Canada on a hunch. My family is staying in Summerside."

"What happened here, Dad?" Ron asked.

"A piece of rock fell from the sky and exploded inside the Town Hall," Arthur replied. "Luckily, I was on my way home when it hit. Unfortunately, others weren't as lucky as I was. I'm just glad you three weren't here when it happened."

"Yeah, we were at home by then--" Ron started, but stopped when he remembered that they weren't supposed to be there when the riot took place. Arthur would know that it doesn't take that long to go from Paradise Manor to the Town Hall and would have figured out that they had been there once since Arthur had shooed Harry and Ron away. Fortunately, he had turned his attention to another wizard. "Me and my big mouth."

"What do you want to do now?" Harry asked Hermione who was biting her lip thoughtfully.

"Ginny and Draco may lead us to the demons," Hermione said, "and so might Percy and Mrs. Weasley. If we put a Tracking Spell on them, then maybe we will be able to find out what happened to them and find out who those demon guys are at the same time."

"Good idea," Harry said. "We should go in chronological order too. That way we can uncover more information."

Hermione nodded and they fought their way out of the crowd, Ron following feebly behind. They went to an area where no one could see them and opened the book.

"We're going to need a map, a crystal, and--" Harry broke off, reading the list of materials needed. "We need a lot of things actually."

"Better that we do this at my house," Ron said and he started for Paradise Manor, the others following him. "That way we can get our materials together faster."

They walked back to Paradise Manor in silence and went into the still silent house. It was only when it began to rain that Hermione finally spoke. "Do you think we'll be able to track them through this rain?"

Harry nodded and looked at Ron. "Do you have something of Percy's that we can use for the spell?"

"I'll go check," Ron answered, "but I'll probably have to steal something of his. He rarely lends his things to us." Ron ran up the stairs to the top floor. The rain began to pour down harder and the sound filled the house.

Harry put the open book on the coffee table and told Hermione, "Get out your cauldron, some mercury, a crystal on a string and a candle."

Hermione nodded and opened her trunk for these things. Ron bounded down the stairs then with a quill in hand. "Here's a quill of Percy's. It even has his name on it."

"Don't you think that Percy would want it back, without the stains of a potion on it?" Harry asked, taking the quill into his hands.

"Oh no, he has tons of them with his name on it," Ron answered. "He's certainly not going to miss this one."

Hermione carefully set her cauldron on the coffee table next to the Arcs and put a burner underneath it. Harry measured a cup of mercury into the cauldron and let it boil. Ron lit the candle Hermione gave him and put it on the table next to the cauldron. Harry stood over it, watching the cauldron.

"Is it boiling?" Hermione asked, coming to stand beside Ron who was beside Harry. They all peered into the cauldron together. The liquid had turned from silver to white and bubbles were forming in it.

Harry nodded. "I think so," he replied and grabbed the crystal. It was short and triangular with a thin string attached to the base. He dropped the crystal into the cauldron with a splash and hung the string over the rim, attaching it to a hook on the side of the cauldron to keep it from falling in.

"You know, I wonder what Snape would say if he saw this," Ron said. "Normally we hate Potions calss, but this is actually kind of fun."

"I think Snape would drop dead at the sound of you saying that," Hermione said with a giggle. "I think everyone would."

Ron snorted and looked at the spell again. He then took Percy's quill and put it into the flame of the candle. It quickly caught fire and he dumped it into the cauldron.

"You probably like this because you get to destroy your brother's things while in the process of trying to find him," Harry said, biting back a laugh. "You have a reason to do this and he can't do anything about it." 

Ron grinned while Harry grabbed the candle and carried it over to the cauldron, carefully trying to keep the melted wax from dripping over the edge. He poured the wax around the fluid inside the cauldron and it emitted a loud popping noise. Sparks flew and smoke rose up out of the cauldron making the three jump.

Harry waved the smoke away from his face and said jokingly, "Ain't magic grand?"

"Got a map, Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, we should," Ron said, going into the kitchen to look through a drawer. He rifled through some papers and came back to the others with a map. He put the map on the floor and Harry and Hermione gathered around him. The map showed the entire town plus the forests that surrounded it. Harry took the crystal out of the cauldron and began to scry, swinging the crystal in a circular motion over the map. He moved the crystal into different areas of the map and listened to his friends talk.

"What will we do when we find him?" Ron asked.

"I think the more important question is: how are we going to get to him?" Hermione asked, folding her arms. She looked at Ron.

"Don't look at me," Ron said defensively. "I can't Apparate."

"Look in the Arcs for a simple teleportation spell, Herm," Harry said, not looking up from the map. He brought the crystal over the forests since he had no luck in finding Percy in the village. Hermione obeyed and flipped to the back of the book.

Ron sat on the couch and said, "That book has like everything in it."

"And I think I know why," Hermione said, so low that Harry barely heard her. Then, she said louder, "Uh, guys, I think you better take a look at this."

Eyebrows raised, Harry reluctantly dropped the crystal on the map and went to stand next to Hermione. Ron had already joined her and was looking over her shoulder at the book. Harry looked at the page that Hermione was staring at as well and saw that it was blank except for a thin blue script that was appearing at the top of the page. The title read, "Teleportation."

Harry looked at the book in horror. The last time he had encountered a book that revealed writing like that was in his second year when he had discovered Tom Riddle's diary. The diary had turned out to be evil, and while Harry did know that the Arcs was a Dark book, he didn't trust it anymore even though it had helped him a lot lately.

"Freaky," Ron whispered, staring at the book in awe. "It's like it hears what we want and prints out whatever we need by adding more pages to itself."

"Yes, it is fairly magical," said a voice in front of them. Harry looked up to see a young girl with long, blonde hair stand in front of the window, transparent like a ghost. Beside Harry, Hermione gasped.

"You!" Hermione said, pointing a finger at the girl. "You are the girl that the demon guy killed in the alley and I got your powers. I mean, you _were_ the girl."

The girl nodded. "I am Eve and I was a slayer before my powers passed on to you. Now, I am just a messenger for the Powers That Be and I have been sent here to explain about the book that lays in your hands. As you know, it is called the Arcs of the Unknown. This particular volume was passed down through generations of witches until the Bonner Fire of 1882. From there, it was passed around through different occult shops and owners until it came to the shop that Harry went to. It picks its owners, you see. You, Harry Potter, and your friend Draco Malfoy are the official owners of this book, and any of your friends can use it as well, but it has its own protection against those who have evil intent at heart."

"But I thought the book was Dark," Harry said. "What's the use of guarding against evil if it has Dark spells in its pages?"

"Well, the owner can be good or evil," Eve explained. "You are good so it guards against evil. If you were evil, then it would guard against good." She suddenly looked up towards the ceiling. "I am being summoned. Please, do not be afraid of the book. It lives to serve only you." She disappeared in a halo of lights.

"Well?" Hermione asked, looking at Harry. "The Teleportation Spell is finished. Are we still gonna use the Arcs?"

Harry looked down at the book. After careful consideration, he nodded. Then, he kneeled down next to the map and picked up the crystal. He started to swing it around and rasied his eyebrows when it stopped in mid-swing. The tip of the crystal was pointing over a point deep in the forest on the eastern side of the lake. He didn't know it, but that was the building Ginny and Draco were in.

***

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny: **"What's so great about these potions?" Draco asked, looking at the glass in his hand warily.

"It's time," Galan said.

"That is the spell we have to say. Together on three, two, one..." 


	11. Forgiving

**Chapter XI:**

**Forgiving**

RATING: PG

*

'Where'd you go, I don't know 

I know that I need you in this heart of mine 

So baby please, come back to me 

I know I can't live my life without you'

~ Destiny's Child, _Where'd You Go?_

*

The sun was starting to rise when the little girl appeared again before Draco. The girl's blonde curls glowed in the light of the fireplace which was the only source of light in the room. The heavy drapes of the window were closed, shutting off all the light from the newly-rising sun.

The girl looked up at Draco from the seat she had taken by the fire. Another champagne flute flew from her hand to his hand. He sat on his bed, flute in hand, not surprised at all. He had already drank five potions that morning, each given to him right on the hour by the girl. He was starting to get so used to it, that he was almost getting used to the taste. Well, almost.

"This is your last potion, Mister Malfoy," the little girl said to him. "Drink it up."

"What's so great about these potions?" Draco asked, looking at the glass in his hand warily.

"They make you strong," the little girl said after a moment's hesitation. "They also act as vitamins towards your body. The rest I cannot tell you."

She looked back at the fireplace again. Draco grimaced as he took a sip of the potion. It still tasted the same: the same disgusting of flavour that was coming close to resembling what a cat would have dug up from out of the garbage. He bent his head back to gulp the rest down but stopped, the flute resting at the bottom of his lip. He looked down into the liquid and frowned. Something was moving inside. He hadn't notcied this before and began to grow suspicious. 

He snuck a look at the little girl to see if she was looking. She wasn't. So he leaned over to the side table where a small plant stood and placed the flute behind it. Then, he realized that she would need to take the flute back so he carefully opened the drawer of the side table and quickly found a small container. He poured the rest of the potion into that container and hid it behind the plant.

"Done," he said, holding up the empty flute. The little girl looked at him and vanished, along with the flute.

Draco looked back at the plant, knowing that the container with the rest of the potion in it was behind there. He looked away quickly and decided to browse the bookshelves.

****

Ginny sat on the floor in her cell, thinking about the plan. The sun was already starting to come up which meant that she had been in the cell for nearly six hours. She hadn't received any more visions, which she supposed was a good thing, and she had fully recovered from being electrocuted earlier. Jason had told her what she had to do and she was going to do it, but first she needed to summon up a lot of courage.

Not a minute later did Galan reappear outside her cell. She held a ring of keys in her hand and looked squarely at Ginny.

"It's time," she said. She began opening the lock on the cell while Ginny slowly got up. The lock clicked and Galan slid open the door. Ginny walked slowly through and looked into Jason's cell. He was sleeping on the floor by the window. When her shadow passed over him though, he opened one eye and gave a small nod and she looked away quickly, thinking that Galan might see.

Jason looked much more different than Ginny had pictured him. She thought he would be a blonde, but he wasn't. He had short black hair that pointed upwards in the front and a short goatee, with black eyes. Remembering what Jason looked like brought Ginny back to the task at hand. Jason's nod meant that the plan would go ahead as planned.

Galan led the way through the hallways. They were littered with old furniture and cobwebs. Only small candles lit the hallways, following the pair everywhere they went, illuminating the peeling paint and dust. The building seemed to have thousands of disused hallways. There were also thousands of doors on either side of these hallways, some opened and some locked, that also led onto other hallways and staircases as well as rooms.

The hallway twisted out of sight and Galan disappeared around the corner with one of the candles following her. Ginny had slowly been following her and still had a ways to go. She quickened her pace and the rest of the candles that were following her did the same. As she passed by an open door, she thought she saw a man, but when she doubled back, she only saw another hallway. She ran around the corner quickly and found Galan waiting for her, arms folded. Ginny's heart quickened, worried about what Galan might do, but Galan only pointed a finger at a lock in a doorknob and the door creaked open.

"Wait here," Galan said, and she went inside the room. Ginny peered around the doorjamb and saw a richly decorated room with a blonde-haired boy sitting on the bed with books in front of him. "You have a visitor," she heard the brunette say, causing Draco to look up in confusion. Galan walked back to the door and Ginny quickly rushed back to her place, not eager to be caught looking inside the room when she probably wasn't supposed to.

Galan caught Ginny's arm and half-dragged her inside the room. The hand suddenly disappeared and Ginny looked back to see that Galan had disappeared and the door had closed.

"Ginny?" Draco called from the bed. Ginny slowly turned around to see Draco getting up from the bed, looking her over. "You're alright. What are you doing here?"

"Galan made me come," Ginny replied. "What about you? How are _you_ doing?"

Something unexplainable passed over Draco's features. He turned away towards the small table in the middle of the room. For some reason, his tense features were oddly appealing to Ginny. "I'm fine," he said, although not sounding it.

"You don't sound it," Ginny said, folding her arms.

"I said I'm fine," Draco repeated, putting his hands on the table for support.

"Oh, yeah right," Ginny whined, warming up. "Look at you, you're shaking with anger which you used to easily control before-"

She had hardly finished her sentence when Draco picked up a vase off the table and hurled it at the door, missing her by inches. Ginny jumped as the vase smashed to thousands of pieces by the door and felt water fly onto the back of her shirt. _Bad, bad, Ginny,_ she scolded herself. _He's a demon so he _is_ going to be a bit violent. Do not provoke him!_

"Get out," Draco muttered, looking at her. There was no emotion on his face and Ginny was about to ask why she had to leave when he suddenly shouted, "Get out and don't ever come back again!"

Ginny jumped for the second time and her breath caught in her throat. Draco turned around and faced the window this time. He was shaking like crazy now and it worried Ginny. She slowly crossed over to the door and bent down, picking up the flowers that had been in the vase. They were tall, scarlet flowers with yellow veins on the inside. She recognized them immediately from Herbology. Professor Sprout had thousands of these growing in her private greenhouse. They were called salpiglossis, or painted tongues, and they were from Chile.

Ginny straightened with the flowers in her hands. She looked back at Draco and found him staring at her. When she looked at him, he quickly turned away, but she knew she had seen regret in his eyes. This meant that there was still a chance to save him.

The door opened suddenly and Galan came through. She pulled Ginny outside and pushed her around the corner. Ginny paused as she thought she heard more things breaking in Draco's room, but Galan pushed her farther down the hallway, making her move. As they walked back to the cells, she made a mental note of where they were going.

****

Hermione looked down at the book in her hands. She re-read the Teleportation Spell as the boys looked for magically-hardened mercury charms that might be laying around the house. She had just finished reading the spell when she heard a crash from upstairs. She looked up to the ceiling and was startled to see dust falling down.

"Eureka!" Ron shouted from upstairs. He had the pleasurable task of looking for a charm in the upstairs bedrooms while Hermione did the first floor and Harry did the basement. She had already found a charm, shaped in the form of a crescent moon, hanging on the wall of the living room and had clipped it onto her own necklace. 

Hermione shook her head as Ron came running down the stairs. "Where'd you find it?" she asked.

Ron shifted uncomfortably and the smile died down somewhat. "In my parents' closet," he replied, clipping it onto his watch. Off of a look from Hermione, he continued. "In a box...that I'm not supposed to look in."

Hermione snorted as Harry came up the stairs from the basement. "Found one," he reported, holding up a shooting star charm. "Is that it?"

"That's all that the spell calls for," Hermione said, standing up. "The charms should work. They're supposed to act as guiding agents. You know, who's going and who's not, that type of thing." She got out three pieces of paper and handed one to each of the boys. Ron and Harry came to stand beside her, looking at the slip of paper in their hands. "That is the spell we have to say and think about where we are going while saying the spell. Together on three, two, one..." In one, they read aloud:

"_Far and near and across the skies_

_Is the place calling me there._

_Before and after the sun's cheerful rise_

_Will I find myself in the place I desire._"

Hermione looked around. Nothing was happening. She looked at Harry who was looking around as well, confused. Ron was standing stock-still, apparently waiting for something to happen.

"What went--" Hermione started, but she didn't finish her sentence as a funnel appeared around the threesome and they were pulled in. Half a second later, the funnel had disappeared and they were standing in the middle of the forest.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, looking around. "This method of transportation is _so_ much better than a portkey!"

He had barely finished his sentence when Hermione felt the ground beneath her give way. A large hole was made and she and Harry fell into the room below. She looked up when she landed on the ground. The room was very small with stone walls and one door. There were shelves stacked with supplies around the walls and she guessed that they had fallen into some sort of a cellar. Harry sat on the ground next to her, shaking dirt out of his hair, but they weren't the only ones in the cellar.

"Are you alright?" Ron called from the hole. He had lain down on his stomach and was peering in over the rim of the hole.

"We're fine," Hermione answered. She got to her feet and dusted the dirt off her jeans and t-shirt.

"Speak for yourself," Harry said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Hermione looked into the shadows of the cellar. "Hello?" she called out, coming closer. A foot was out in the open, but quickly darted back into the shadows. "We don't bite. You don't have anything to be afraid of."

"Who are you talking to, Herm?" Ron asked.

"There's someone else in here," Hermione told him, not taking her eyes off of the place where the foot had disappeared. "It's okay, you know. You can come out."

A tense silence filled the room. Finally, the person came into the light of the moon that came through the hole in the roof of the cellar. The person was tall and had red hair, the same red hair that Ron had. Hermione gasped. The man was shaking and his face was streaked with tears, grime, and dried blood. His long arms were crisscrossed with long gashes and there was also blood underneath his fingernails.

"Percy?" Ron asked, shocked.

Percy looked up towards the hole, frightened. He was about to back away when Hermione caught his arm in a reassuring grip and said, "Percy, it's okay. It's just us. Ron, Hermione, and Harry?" A sudden thought crept into her head and she asked, "Don't you remember us?"

Percy shook his head. Harry stood up and joined Hermione. "I'm Harry," he said to Percy. He nodded his head towards Hermione. "This is Hermione and up there is your youngest brother, Ron. What happened to you?"

Percy shrugged his shoulders. "I-I don't know. All I remember is waking up and..finding these hooded figures over me. They tortured me and I escaped...into here. They might find me here. We have to leave."

"Well, we would need--" Hermione started, but was cut off as the rest of the roof caved in. Piles of dirt and grass mixed together with Ron fell on them. Ron flattened them all to the ground.

Hermione spit out the grass that had fallen into her mouth. "Yuck," she said, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand where it was clean. She moved Ron's legs from on top of her and began to get up, once again dusting dirt off her clothes and shaking it out of her hair. She looked up at the hole which had gotten bigger with the cave-in. Then, she looked down at Ron who had rolled onto his back with Harry and Percy struggling to get out from underneath him. "Look for another mercury charm for Percy. There are so many supplies on these shelves so there should be at least one."

Hermione, Harry, and Ron rifled through the objects on the shelves leaving Percy to stand in the middle of the room, watching them. The shelf was filled with odd things such as jars of apple juice or some yellow liquid like that, and spider legs. It wasn't two minutes when Ron started to say, "Eur--" 

"Ron!" Hermione and Harry said at the same time.

Ron grinned mischieviously and held up a charm. "Found one," he said and gave it to Percy. "Clip that on. It'll help you to teleport."

Percy did as he was told and clipped it onto his watch. "We are all going to say the spell at the same time," Hermione told him. "Ron will share his spell with you, and it should teleport us back to Paradise Manor. So, in order for it to work for you, you need to think about Paradise Manor while you say the spell. Got it? Just think of the name, it should get you there." Percy nodded. "Okay, on the count of three. Three, two one..."

The group began to read the spell together. When they finished, they waited patiently. Then, the funnel appeared around them and brought them back home.

****

Galan led Ginny the rest of the way through the building back to her cell. Ginny still had the painted flowers in her hand and was feigning sadness for Galan's benefit. That was part of the plan: to trick Galan into thinking that the Master's plan had actually worked, when Ginny knew full well that it hadn't. She faked a sniffle as they turned down the last corridor. The door at the end of the hall led to the cells. Ginny looked back at the corridor behind her and bowed her head as Galan covered the remaining length of hallway, opened the door and pushed her in. Ginny could see movement in Jason's cell and looked up to see Jason watching her with apprehension, eyebrows raised in questioning. He lowered them, and raised them again, that being the second signal. Ginny turned to Galan and punched her flat on the nose.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Ginny shouted, shaking her hand and whimpering. She hadn't expected it to hurt so much, but it was for a good cause. Galan fell down, didn't she?

"Wow, it actually worked," Jason said, chuckling. "No damage so far."

"No damage?!" Ginny asked incredulously. "I think my hand has something to say to that!"

"Well, Galan is down and I think that you should be on your way now."

"I guess so," Ginny said, looking at Galan who was lying on the floor, blood coming out of her nose. "I didn't expect her to fall down so easily."

"Which is why you should leave...like right now, before she wakes up."

"Thank you, Jason."

"You're welcome," Jason said, smiling at her. "And don't you forget to come back and get me!"

"I won't," Ginny said, grinning as well. "Bye!"

"Bye!" Jason said as Ginny ran out of the room. She ran as fast as she could down the hallways. She remembered most of them, but had to backtrack a couple of times to get back down the right hallway.

She arrived at Draco's door out of breath and still holding the flowers. She took a moment to relax her breathing and realized that inside the room was quiet. She knocked on the door and waited tensely for the door to open. She heard footsteps amid the silence inside and soon the door was opening slowly, revealing a very frazzled Draco who had scratches on his hands.

"What are--" Draco started, but Ginny didn't waste any time. Looking behind her for Galan or anyone else who would've seen her, she pushed past Draco inside and looked around.

"Oh my god, Draco," she said, taking in the mess around the room. "Which tornado broke into your room and destroyed it?" she asked, turning around to look at Draco. He was wearing a plaid shirt that was open, revealing his chest which had several cuts across it, and had on faded blue jeans.

"No tornado," he answered, holding up his hands for her to see them more clearly. She took his hands and examined them closer. They had deep cuts with fragments of wood and glass in them. "Just me."

"And what a great natural disaster you are," Ginny said, with a smile. She was hoping to lighten the mood a bit and was rewarded with a light chuckle from Draco.

"I'm glad...that you're here," he said slowly. She looked up into his eyes and saw that there was anxiousness and hope in them. He continued, looking down at his hands. "I didn't mean what I said before, you know, about you never coming back again. I was just afraid of what you would think of me when I tell you that I'm a--"

"Demon?" Ginny asked, before he could say it. He nodded, slightly shocked that she already knew. "I already know since Galan kind of told me and there was this guy in the cell next to me who is also a demon and he helped me break out. But that's not important at the moment. What is important-" she turned around to look at the room "-is that we get this place straightened up."

"Yeah, I guess I sorta did a little _too_ much damage," Draco said from behind her. The bed had been torn apart and the bookshelves had been knocked down, their books spilled all over the floor. The table was upturned and a chair looked like it had been put into the fireplace to burn. Glass littered the floor and dresser drawers with clothes spilling out of them were piled on the floor. The only piece of furniture that was untouched was a side table by the bed that had a plant on it. "Some of it was destroyed using my powers. The demonic ones, you know." 

Ginny felt something being pulled out of her hand and turned around to see Draco taking the flowers and putting them into a vase. He crossed the room and put them on the side table next to the plant. "Watch this," he said, sounding like a little kid who was very proud of what he was going to do. He waved a hand over the vase and it filled with water. "See? Isn't that cool?"

Ginny couldn't help but smile. "When I'm through with you, you'll be the best good demon the world has ever seen," she said.

He surprised her by kneeling down and bending over, saying, "I live to serve you."

She giggled and pulled him up by the arm. "Let's get started on this room, shall we?" she said, walking into the middle of the room.

"Nah, I'll get started," Draco said, pulling her over to a chair that was lying on its side on the floor. He righted the chair and dusted it off with the wave of his hand. Then, he sat Ginny in the chair. "You sit."

"I have a feeling that you're going to enjoy this cleaning," Ginny said, shifting to get comfortable and trying to hide a laugh.

Draco considered this for a moment and then said, "Yep." He began to clear the room using his magic. "I've never cleaned a room before. I never had to since we had house-elves, but I think I might like it, especially since I won't be doing it manually." The dresser drawers, bookshelves, table and chairs righted themselves and the books flew back onto the shelves. The clothes went back into the dresser and the bed came back together. Soon, the room was back to its original state. "Done," he said.

"Perfect," Ginny said, looking about the room.

***

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny:** "She's my mother, Hermione," Ron cried.

"We're going where?" Severus Snape asked.


	12. Demons, Demons, Demons

**Chapter XII:**

**Demons³**

RATING: PG

A/N: Okay, this is close to the end and if there is anything I don't explain, review so I can put it into the epilogue or sequel. (Cuz you know we just gotta have a sequel!) 

*

'Slowly drifting into a peaceful breeze,

Tongue tied and twisted are all my memories,

Celebrating a fantasy come true,

Packing all my bags, finally on the move.'

~ Christina Aguilera, _Cruz_

*

After teleporting back to Paradise Manor, Ron and Hermione showed Percy to his room while Harry performed the ritual of scrying for Molly Weasley all over again. Following the same pattern as before, he dipped a necklace of Molly's into the candle's flame and dropped it into the cauldron. Then he dripped the candle's wax around the liquid and the potion exploded. He then took the crystal and went over to the map on the floor where he began to scry. By then, Ron and Hermione had come back downstairs and were fighting over something that Harry only partially listened to since it was clear they didn't know he was there.

"...she needs to be found first," Hermione was saying. "She may have more information than Percy or your mother do."

"How can you say that?" Ron asked. Harry moved the crystal to another section of the map. He drowned out the next part of the conversation when the crystal began to pull towards another area and he moved his hand to where it wanted him to go. The crystal suddenly dropped on a clearing a centimetre from where Percy's crystal had dropped. Harry furrowed his brow and straightened. Then, he tuned back into the conversation around him and slowly stood up, but they took no notice.

"She's my _mother_, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed. "And she's been gone way longer than Ginny has."

"Yes, I know," Hermione hissed. "But we don't know what happened to her. Her memory could be wiped like Percy's and that's why we should get to Ginny first."

"When was it that you stopped caring about family?" Ron yelled. "Ginny will be alright, as long as she stays with Malfoy. These demons are a lot worse than he'll ever be and I hate to be the first to admit that. My _mother_ has been missing since yesterday morning and who knows what might have happened to her which is why we need to get to her first!"

"But it is more practical to go to Ginny first," Hermione began, trying to keep her temper at bay. She was going to say something more but Harry decided to cut in then.

"Will you two stop fighting?" he asked, putting his hands in his jean pockets. The pair in front of him jumped at his sudden interruption and the room became eerily silent. Both Hermione and Ron were flushed with anger and out of breath.

"How long have you been there?" Ron asked quietly.

"Since before you guys came downstairs," Harry answered. "I've already scryed for Mrs. Weasley and found her, so we have no choice but to go to her. Do you have Percy's mercury charm?" Hermione nodded weakly, not looking at Ron. "Okay, so we go. Is that clear?"

The pair in front of him nodded and got out their pieces of paper with the Teleportation spell. Everyone said the spell as one and soon they were whisked away to where the crystal landed.

*****

"We're going where?" Severus Snape asked, clearly shocked. He sat on one side of a long table beside Minerva McGonagall and Remus Lupin, the latter having been re-hired as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. These three professors were part of the special Order of the Phoenix, an organization built outside of the Ministry of Magic and against the Dark Lord Voldemort. Around him sat many other wizards that belonged to the secret organization, but many chairs were vacant, mainly Sirius Black and Arthur Weasley. Some of these missing agents were off in some foreign country discovering news about Voldemort's plans. The founder of the organization and appointed leader was Albus Dumbledore, who was sitting at the head of the table and was now looking at Snape with mild amusement.

"Mellowside, Ontario," Dumbledore repeated.

"What?" Snape asked incredulously.

"Well, you don't have to put it like that," Dumbledore said, frowning.

"Sorry," Snape said. He then asked again, "What?" This caused a few of the younger women to giggle and he glanced at them in a state of more shock. Those three witches from Germany had some kind of a crush on him.

Dumbledore chose to ignore this. "We must get to Mellowside immediately. From what Sirius has said, the Wizarding World in Canada is in jeopardy and so are the students that we have there vacationing. The Weasleys, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, and I believe even Hermione Granger and her parents are in Canada, all in Mellowside."

"But Professor," McGonagall began, "what will we do when we get there? This new evil is beyond the Wizarding World's magic. What if we can't stop him?"

"We will do what we can, Minerva," Dumbledore told her. "But the immediate action would be to get there." He sighed and stood up. "I have no further announcements. I would like a few of you to stay here at Hogwarts to keep an eye on Voldemort and our spies while the rest of us leave for Mellowside. I wish for those leaving with me to pack their bags as quickly as possible. Meeting is adjourned."

The sounds of scraping chairs and shuffling papers filled the Prefect meeting room as various wizards and witches began to filter out.

*****

They were teleported to a bedroom this time. Ron looked around. It was a small room, heavily decorated in rich colours such as burgundy and black. There were bookshelves lining the walls and a sofa with matching chairs that were scattered about the room and there was a large four-poster bed by the window, its drapes an evergreen. The curtains were half-open and revealed a figure on the bed.

"Mom?" Ron called. The figure on the bed stirred and the curtains were pushed back further. Ron's guess had been right. The woman was Molly Weasley, but she was different.

Molly jumped off the bed and circled the threesome once before stopping in front of Ron and putting her hand on his face. "You're my son, aren't you?" she asked. Ron nodded weakly and realized that Molly's fingernails were digging into his skin. "Yes, you are. You have my hair." She let go and walked back to her bed, sitting down crosslegged.

"Mrs. Weasley-" Hermione began.

"Silence," Molly said softly, looking down at the floor, pouting. She looked like she was young again. "Let the boy talk."

Hermione looked at Ron and he shrugged. Then he said, "What happened to you?"

"I was turned," Molly answered, busying herself with smoothing the curtains. "I thought you would be too."

"Well, I've only been here twice," Ron told her. "I think we found Percy here, in this building. Right, Harry?" Harry nodded.

"I think they caught me after I..." Molly said, staring off into space for the answer. "I honestly don't remember. I have been having trouble with remembering those things lately."

"Why?" Ron asked, moving closer to her.

Molly looked at him suspiciously before turning back to the curtain. "I think it has something to do with the potions. My care-keeper said that soon my memories of my past will be stripped away and since they have stopped bringing potions, I assume it has something to do with that. Odd, the transformation is. Those potions tasted disgusting."

She stopped talking and glided over to a bookshelf. Ron looked at Harry, still trying to avoid Hermione's eyes. "What do we do?" he asked.

Harry looked nervously at Hermione before answering. "We should get her back to your house. If she's going to forget her past, then it might be best that we bring her to a place where she can remember it again."

"Harry's right," Hermione said. "We gotta get her out of here. I think they might've turned her into a demon."

"Hermione, I didn't ask you," Ron hissed, not wanting to believe Hermione.

"Well, I jumped in anyways," Hermione said defensively. "She talks about transformation and since demons were after Percy, then they must have turned her into one."

"Wait a minute," Harry said, scratching his head. "If demons forget what their past lives were as humans in one of the stages of becoming a demon and Percy didn't recognize you Ron, then he must be a demon too because he was gone longer than Molly was."

"This is just great," Ron moaned. "Next, I'm gonna find out that my sister's a demon and You-Know-Who wears a pink tutu."

Hermione started to look through her pockets. When she found what she was looking for, she brought it out. It was the charm Percy used to teleport. "Ron, give this to your mother," she said, giving it to him. "We're going back to Paradise Manor."

Ron nodded and went over to his mother. "Mum, we're going to take you home," he told her. She wasn't looking at him but at the books on the shelf. "Is that okay with you?"

Now he had caught her attention. She looked at him nervously and nodded. Ron clipped the charm onto a necklace that hung around her neck and he brought her over to where Hermione and Harry were standing. Sharing his spell with his mother, they all read aloud the spell at once and the funnel appeared around them. Half a second later, they were back in the living room of Paradise Manor. Ron gave his mother a cup of coffee and led her to the kitchen table where she sat, watching the teenagers make the potion for scrying all over again.

After a search of Ginny's room, Ron brought back another quill and dipped it into the candle's flame. Then, he dropped it into the cauldron and let Harry do the rest. Harry dripped the melted candle wax on the liquid in the cauldron and it exploded. Everyone jumped and Harry pulled the crystal out of the potion. He went over to the map and began to scry.

"Why don't you scry in the same area that we found Percy and Mrs. Weasley in?" Hermione suggested, bending down.

"You think they could be in the same building?" Harry asked, not looking up from the map. The sun had already risen and was slowly moving up the sky.

"They could be," Hermione replied. "I mean, it could be just a coincidence that Percy and Mrs. Weasley were in the same building, but it might be faster to try it."

Harry nodded and moved the crystal to the spot where it had fallen for Percy and Molly. Ron saw his brow furrow and the crystal suddenly stopped on an area close to where Molly had been.

"Got her," Harry said, standing up. "You were right, Herm. They're all in the same place. I bet you we can find Draco with Ginny."

"Shouldn't you clean up this mess?" Molly suddenly asked from the kitchen table. She gestured to the broken dishes and cabinet on the floor.

"How could we forget about this stuff?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"We were busy," Ron said.

Hermione looked around and then pointed to the window. "It stopped raining."

"We even didn't notice that," Ron said, grinning.

"It stopped raining a couple of hours ago," Harry said, looking at Hermione and Ron strangely. "I would've thought you guys would notice that."

Hermione shrugged while Ron scratched his head thoughtfully.

****

Morning sunlight drifted in through the open window and illuminated the room. Ginny was asleep on a chair by the bed, her hair falling over the arm of the chair and a book open on her lap. Draco was sitting on the bed close to her, reading some of the books from the shelves, and would look at Ginny every five minutes to make sure she was still there and unharmed. He had been browsing through the spells section of the bookshelves and had found some pretty interesting spells. He was about to turn the page when Harry, Hermione, and Ron suddenly appeared beside the bed and he jumped.

"Good god," Draco whispered angrily, not wanting to wake Ginny. "Can't you knock first before you pop in on people like that?"

"Har har," Ron said. He caught sight of Ginny and ran over to her. "Ginny!"

"Don't wake her!" Draco hissed.

"Okay, okay," Ron whispered, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"Is she a demon?" Harry asked in a low voice.

Draco's eyebrows shot up and he said defensively, "No, I am." At their confused looks, he continued. "We were both caught but they decided to change me and not her and kept her locked up in a cell somewhere in the building."

"And you let her out?" Hermione asked.

"No again, she did it herself," Draco answered. "Why are you guys here anyways?"

"We're trying to save you guys," Hermione replied. "We've already found Percy and Mrs. Weasley. Now, we're coming for you."

"Sorry, but they don't need saving," said a voice from the door. He was robed in black and a hood covered his face. "Welcome to my little humble abode. I have been expecting you, especially the son of the Wizarding World: Harry Potter."

The man jumped forward so suddenly that no one had any time to react and grabbed Harry. Finally, Draco grabbed a knife from a drawer in his side table and threw it at the man, careful to not hit Harry. It plunged into the man's side and he took it out while his other arm was around Harry's neck. He threw the knife at Hermione who caught it in midair. Then, the man and Harry disappeared together in a wreath of fire.

"Uh-oh," Hermione said.

****

"Where are we?" Harry asked. After the man had brought him to a cave, he had pushed him into a cage and disappeared. Now, the man was back. His hood was down, revealing brown hair, tanned skin with a long jagged rip from his skull to his chin on the left side of his face, and black eyes. Harry stood up in his cage and closed his hands around the bars.

"Well, I know where you are," the man said, smiling evilly. "You're locked in a cage. But, together, we are obviously in some kind of a cave."

"That _was_ obvious," Harry muttered. Fortunately for him, the man did not hear it or pretended not to hear it.

The man continued. "This cave is part of a vast network of underground tunnels and chambers that serve as my home. It spans the globe in most areas, yet mine and Lexus' demons have to travel a continent to get around the Wizarding World which is awfully a pity. I was hoping that that Dark Lord of yours would share his network, but he hasn't. He wants to keep his network to himself because he doesn't trust us. What's that guy's name? Voldemeanor?"

"Voldemort," Harry said quietly. This guy was probably hard to kill since he was a demon. Would Harry be able to kill him to save his own life? He hoped so, because if not then he was going to have to find a way to escape. "Look, what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, you're going to be my bargaining chip," the man said. "Voldemorty wants to take over the Wizarding World, but to do that, he needs to kill you. And as a sign of good will towards Voldemorty, I give him you, he gives me access to his tunnels, we all get what we want and get on with our lives. It's all been part of my master plan ever since you and that Draco Malfoy boy set foot on this soil."

While the man was speaking, Harry looked about the room. It was empty, save for the two of them. No guards, but there could be barrier charms around the room. He could probably get out of this cage, but the charms would stop him from moving any farther. When the man finished speaking, he asked, "Who are you?" just to stall for time.

"I am the Master," the man said, raising his hands, palms-up. "And this is my part of the Underworld. Of course, we're not in my 'evil lair', as so many movies like to call it. Those things are just so cliché."

"Go on," Harry said nervously.

"Well, what can I say about myself?" the Master said, grinning. Harry suddenly realized that the man before him had no teeth. He frowned as the Master spoke again. "I am very popular in the Underworld, though I'm surprised that you don't know that much about me. Well, I guess it's because you types have no regard for anything outside your world. You care nothing about the troubles of others. Those damn slayers have evaded many apocalypses, but I didn't see any of your names on the guest list. That's the problem with your kind. You're so self-centered. It's rather distracting."

Harry arched his eyebrows. This was certainly not what he had expected. He'd expected more evil talk, but instead, this just made the Master more...uh, mellow?

****

"Uh-oh," a female voice said. Ginny furrowed her eyebrows. It sounded like someone she knew.

"This can't be good," a male voice said. She recognized that voice also.

"Like the guy said, we didn't really need saving," said another male voice. Draco! "We could've gotten out ourselves. Just give us some time, and we wouldn't have sacrificed Harry to a _demon_!"

"What happened to the 'don't-wake-Ginny' policy?" the first male asked. That had to be Ron. Ginny stirred and groaned. She had a bad feeling that something bad had just happened, and even though sleep was nice, perhaps she knew she should wake up now.

"What happened?" Ginny asked. Opening her eyes, she found that her guesses had been right. Ron and Draco were around the bed area, while Hermione was sitting on the arm of Ginny's chair that her hair wasn't occupying. "Something bad happened, didn't it?" she asked, seeing the expressions on her friends' faces.

When no one answered, Ron took a happy outlook. "Nice to see ya, sis! Nice to see that you're not a demon, like some people in this room."

"Ron, Draco wasn't the only one to be turned, remember?" Hermione scolded.

Ron threw his hands up in the air, giving Hermione a hurt look. Ginny looked at Draco. His expression was sombre.

"I don't get this," Draco said suddenly, when a tense silence had fell on the group.

"Tell me about it," Ron said."_We_ don't even know what is going on, and Hermione is the smart one."

"Hullo?!" Ginny said, waving her hands. "Remember me people? The one who still doesn't know what just happened here?" Hermione grinned and explained. "Thank you, Hermione," Ginny said when she was finished, giving her a smile.

"_I_ still don't get this," Draco repeated. He raised his eyebrows at Ginny. "You're the one who got out of her jail-cell alone. Maybe you know something we don't?"

She shrugged back at him, earning a questioning look from her brother and Hermione, but she ignored them for the time being and went to thinking. The other three waited for her to think patiently before she began. "Jason said that if I believed that Draco was truly evil, I would have sent visions to you guys and then you would've come and the Master would've taken you in for questioning. He said that the Master wanted information from you about the Ministry of Magic."

"Yeah, well, we came anyways," Ron said, sitting at the foot of the bed dejectedly, "and look where it got us. And, Gin, you know this guy? And, who is Jason?" His expression became suspicious. "Is he the Master guy?"

Ginny ignored his questions to ask a question. "And now you guys are here, but the Master only took Harry, right?"

Draco nodded. "The man said he had been waiting for these three, especially Harry. I'm thinking that his plan is not to corrupt the Ministry, like he wants us to think. It's something deeper."

"Why do I get the feeling that this...demon guy is going to kill Harry?" Hermione asked, frustrated.

"Wait," Draco said. "What does the Master really want? I mean, really? Does he want to take over the Wizarding World or does he just want what's underneath it?"

"What do you mean what's underneath it?" Ron asked, looking at him as if he were insane. "What's underneath it is soil and rock. I guarantee that is not much to grab Harry for."

"No, you idiot," Draco said, exasperated. "Has no one told you anything about how Voldemort operates?" At the mention of Voldemort's name freely, the others shivered. He ignored it and went on. "Hasn't anyone heard of the Underground? Well, my father told _me_ about it. It's a series of tunnels, much like the labyrinth here, which takes Voldemort's followers all over England and into some parts of Europe, like Albania and Romania, et cetera. It's totally separate from the world above ground and that's where most Death Eater meetings are held, well, when they're not out hunting for kill."

"But what has that got to do with the Master?" Hermione asked. "If the Master wants territory, then he probably already has access to the Underground underneath England. England's one of the most well-known areas."

"That's the thing, he doesn't have Voldemort's Underground." Draco got off the bed and went over to one of the bookshelves where he pulled out a flimsy book that was battered at the edges, and opened it. He quickly turned to the page he was looking for and brought it over to the bed so everyone could see. It was a map of the Master's territory and of other Underground tunnels that didn't belong to him. Sure enough, the red dotted line marking the Master's tunnels did not stretch to England or the other places Voldemort frequented. "It doesn't make sense though, I know that's for sure. But he must want the territory."

"And that means bringing in You-Know-Who," Ginny said from her perch. "If I'm not mistaken, then Harry's going to be sacrificed to You-Know-Who for territory. This just can't get any better."

"Great, now we go up against You-Know-Who?" Ron asked from the bed, paling slightly causing his freckles to jump out.

"Either that, or we rescue Harry before the Dark Lord arrives," Ginny said. She got up and stretched her legs, feeling like she hadn't stood up in ages. "We need to get Jason. He might be able to help us. And besides, I did promise him I would come back to keep him from getting killed."

"Once again, who the hell is Jason?" Ron asked, getting up as well, with Hermione following. The group trooped to the door.

"He's a demon," Ginny told him simply. "He was in the cell next to mine and he sounded pretty nice, so he might give us more information. Also, he helped me to get out and I kinda left Galan unconscious in the same room as him so he might be a little out of it when we get there." Draco snorted as she realised that she had said yet another name that neither Ron nor Hermione knew, and now Ron was looking confused again. She rolled her eyes and said, "Never mind, Ron. If I answered every question about everyone I've met here, we would be here for almost an hour and that would _not_ be good."

"Are you sure about this, Ginny?" Hermione asked, skeptically. "I mean, after all, he is a demon." Ron nodded emphatically.

"I'm relying on my instincts," Ginny replied, "and they say 'go'." She opened the door and looked around the corner before turning back to her friends. "Besides, even if he was one of the Master's best, he protected a witch against the Master's orders and then conspired with me to get out, so that has to be something, doesn't it?" Hermione threw up her hands, giving up, and set her mouth into a straight line. "Now, let's go."

Ginny led the way out the door and around the corner on their way back to the cells. She felt a bit nauseous all of a sudden, but didn't show it to the others. Now that she thought about it more, what if Jason _was_ evil? What if this had also been part of the Master's plan all along?

****

"Hello?" called Arthur Weasley. He had just arrived home and found all the lights out. When he went around the corner and into the living room, his eyes spotted the mess on the floor which still hadn't been cleaned up. The wind flew in from an open window and rustled some papers on the table. Arthur turned and went into Ron's room. No one was there. He crossed the hallway to his daughter's bedroom. She wasn't there either. "Where is everybody?" he called out. He went back into the living room and looked down the stairs to the basement. All was quiet. Louder, he said, "I hope you aren't off chasing those demons...or whatever they were."

"They were demons," said a shaky voice from the bottom step of the stairs going upwards. Arthur jumped and turned to see Molly sitting on the step.

"Molly!" he exclaimed and rushed to hug her. When he hugged her, she stayed limp, not moving her arms to hug him back. He pulled back a bit and looked at her. Confusion lay in her eyes and there were scratches along her cheekbones and fingernail imprints embedded in her cheeks. "What happened to you? Where did you go? I was so worried..."

"You are my husband," she said without warning.

"Yes, I am," Arthur told her, brushing back a strand of her hair. She jerked away at the touch and covered her face, sobbing. "What's wrong, honey?"

"You know my past," she sobbed, bending over to put her head on her knees. "Why don't I know that? I'm the one who owns it, but you're the only one who knows it." She started to flail her arms like a little child while Arthur held her, trying to get him away from her.

"Molly?" he asked, confused. He got her attention now. She looked at him, almost innocently. "Tell me what happened."

"She's a demon, Father," said another voice from the stairway. Both Arthur and Molly looked up the stairs to see Percy standing on the landing above them. He began to descend the stairs. "And so am I."

"I don't...I don't understand," Arthur said, tears glazing his eyes. They weren't full enough to spill.

"What is happening now is just a stage," Percy told him. "She'll go crazy because she doesn't remember anything of her past, and then all of the humanity left in her will drain away and be taken over by the demon planted inside. I read it from one of the books they had for me. It's rather simple once you think about it."

Percy stepped around the pair down to the floor and Arthur straightened to face him. Molly looked frightfully between father and son, then burst into sobs.

"Percy Weasley is a demon," someone said from the doorway to the house. Right about then, Arthur had enough of people sneaking up on him from inside the darkness and he was happy at what happened next.

The lights suddenly went on and illuminated the scene. Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, and Albus Dumbledore were standing in the doorway with several wizards behind them. Percy panicked and made a break for the side door, but Arthur grabbed onto his arm just in time to pull him back. Percy punched him in the stomach though, and made another dash for the door, but this time Snape was ready for him. He grabbed hold of Percy's arms and bound them in unbreakable rope as Arthur doubled over. Small hands pulled Arthur down onto the step where Molly wrapped her arms around him, clinging tight.

"This is unfortunate," Dumbledore said, moving into the room. "I had hoped it didn't end up this way. Where are the kids?"

"The twins are at their office building," Arthur told him. "I don't know where Draco or Ginny are, but I did see Hermione, Ron, and Harry earlier."

"Percy, do you know anything?" Dumbledore asked, turning to him.

Percy shook his head. "I saw them earlier too, but I haven't the slightest idea where they are," he said, cockily. He added, "Nor will I care."

Dumbledore turned to Molly. She tightened her grip on Arthur who took her hand. "Dear, do you know where Hermione, Harry, and Ron are?" Arthur asked for Dumbledore. She looked at him nervously, then to Dumbledore, then back to Arthur. "Do you know anything, anything at all?"

Molly nodded at that. "They gave me this silver thing," she said, pulling a necklace with a mercury charm out from underneath her sweater. "And then, they did a spell and suddenly this whirly cloud came up. We came here and the black-haired boy took a dangly pendant thing-" she got up and went into the living room where a map was on the floor, picking up a chain from it, "-and swirled it around this map until he found 'her'. Then they disappeared in the whirly cloud when they said a spell of some sort."

Dumbledore walked over to where Molly was standing and carefully took the crystal from her hands without making her more nervous. He bent down as best as he could and swirled the crystal around above the map in large arcs. The crystal became attracted to the forest on the map and he brought it over to that area, shortening the arcs. By now, everybody was standing on their tip-toes to see what he was doing, holding their breath. Suddenly, the crystal stopped and Dumbledore dropped the tip on the map. Everybody let out their breath as one.

"They were scrying for someone," Dumbledore reported, straightening. "Arthur, would I be right in guessing that they were looking for these two-" he gestured to Molly and Percy, "-and Ginny and Draco?"

Arthur nodded. "I only knew about Molly's and Percy's disappearances, but Ginny and Draco weren't with the others when I saw them last."

"They must've strayed into the Underground before the others and gotten captured," Dumbledore said.

"The Underground, Albus?" McGonagall asked. "I thought that was a myth."

"No, I'm afraid not, Minerva," Dumbledore told her. He turned to Molly and Percy again. "Molly, Percy. You will be our guides for the rest of the morning. I would like you to show us where you were made into demons. Can you do that for us?" Molly nodded while Percy looked unmoved. "Very well, then. Let's go."

Molly and Dumbledore reached the front door first, with Snape, who was still holding Percy, and McGonagall next, Arthur after them, and everyone else following him.

***

**Next time on Arcs of Destiny:**

"Wow," Hermione muttered, eyebrows raised. "Check out Draco Malfoy helping the common good." She chuckled. "Me without my camera."

Harry sighed. This just couldn't get any more boring.

"How close are we?" Dumbledore asked Molly.


End file.
